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Donald Trump Indicted On Four Counts In 2020 Election Probe; France Flies In Jump Jets To Evacuate Nationals; 0 Missiles Shot Down Over Kyiv; Russian Strikes Cause Fire At Grain Store In Odesa; One Death Reported in Okinawa as Typhoon Khanun Nears; After War and Earthquake, Syria Now Ravaged by Wildfires; Women's World Cup. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 02, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up this hour on CNN, now it gets really serious. Donald Trump's third indictment in four months, charges the former president of multiple criminal schemes to stay in power.
Full-fledge war, as Ukrainian drones continue to strike inside Russia. As senior Ukrainian official warns the war will soon be waged on Russian territory.
And meet the Three Amigos, why are the military regimes in Mali and Burkina Faso and now wanting any attack on Niger will be seen as an attack on them.
Good to have you with us for CNN Newsroom, we begin with the third indictment on former U.S. President Donald Trump. This is without doubt an unprecedented moment in U.S. history. A former president indicted for allegedly plotting along with six co-conspirators multiple criminal schemes to steal the presidency.
The two earlier indictments, one for falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to a porn star. The other for mishandling classified material are serious and consequential on their own, but pale in comparison to the latest charges from Special Counsel Jack Smith, accusing Trump of knowingly and deliberately spreading prolific lies about the credibility of the 2020 presidential election. Even though Trump knew he had lost to Joe Biden.
Trump scheduled for an initial hearing Thursday, that's when he will be formally charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an attempt to obstruct -- obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
According to Special Counsel Jack Smith, Trump's repeated lies about the 2020 election, ultimately fuel the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol -- on the U.S. Capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL: The attack on our nation's capitol on January 6 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. It's described in the indictment. It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation's process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More details here CNN's Paula Reid reporting in from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is the third criminal indictment that former President Trump has faced this year. Now in this indictment Special Counsel Jack Smith alleges that former President Trump after he lost the 2020 election that he pursued a series of actions to try to unlawfully overturn the results of that election.
Special Counsel acknowledges that the former president is within his rights to allege fraud to pursue litigation to call for audits, but they say instead, he pursued an unlawful series of actions that resulted in this criminal indictment. Among them, they say that he and his associates tried to install slates of fake electors to overturn the results in seven states. They also allege the former president and his associates applied a lot of pressure on individual states on officials within specific states that the former president lost, trying to get them to investigate and or overturn the election results in their states.
They also allege that the former President tried to use the Justice Department with the help of a Justice Department official who was named as a co-conspirator to try to apply pressure specifically on the state of Georgia. They also allege the former president applied pressure to his own vice president. Of course, this has been widely reported that he really pressed his Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the results of the election for now, President Biden.
Now this all culminated, prosecutors allege in the violence that we saw on January 6. Prosecutors alleged that these lies that were being amplified by the former president and his associates helped propel this sense of distrust in the government and in the outcome, which in part resulted in the violence we saw on January 6, but the indictment lays out how then President Trump did not do anything to try to quell that violence, and in fact, he and his associates doubled down and their efforts to try to overturn the results of the election.
The former president is expected to make his initial court appearance on Thursday. It's unclear if it'll be in person or if he will appear via Zoom.
[01:05:00] And the investigation continues. The Special Counsel confirmed that on Tuesday. We also know from our own reporting that they will continue to interview witnesses, including a witness that they have scheduled next Monday. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson is with us now for a closer look at this new legal trouble Trump is now facing. Welcome back. It's been what less than a week or so.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, good to see John, that trouble is a mounting indeed.
VAUSE: Aren't they? And overall big picture here in terms of legal jeopardy, does it get much more serious than trying to steal the U.S. presidency? What is Trump facing here? How serious is this?
JACKSON: Yes, you would think, wow, that this would not occur. Obviously, we're on unprecedented waters and territory. But the legal jeopardy is very significant. And putting this in context, remember that this is the third indictment and there may be a fourth. We know that there's the New York indictment in Manhattan, we certainly know that. We know that there's the other federal indictment relating to classified documents. That's a pretty compelling case.
And now we have this. And when you talk about the serious nature of this, you know, look, these are counts that stem from five to 20 years that you can do with respect to time. The American system values, appreciates and cherishes our elections, no matter who you vote for.
And so when there's undermining of that process, the Special Counsel have a lot to say about it. And certainly a lot to say with respect to Trump's activities and engagement with a conspiracy with others. So the legal jeopardy here is significant. And let's not forget, John, that there may be again, as I noted, a forthcoming indictment in Georgia, which would mirror this federal case dealing with election interference. And so we are in uncharted waters, indeed.
VAUSE: And how the indictment accuses the former president and his co- conspirators of a month long campaign of lies to, quote, create an intense atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.
And then come January 6, before the attack on the Capitol, Trump made this call to his loyal supporters. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We fight like hell. Going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So, let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And here's what happened next according to the indictment, as violence ensured, the defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud, and convince members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims.
You know, a lot of the facts in this case, almost all of them played out in real time. There's no dispute over what happened. So how solid is Jack Smith when it comes to the law here?
JACKSON: Trump's lawyers will certainly defend upon the grounds that this is politics, and it's pure speech, and the President is protected from speech. And that, quite frankly, is not the case. The fact is, is that if you engage in fraud, and you do not have a good faith belief to know that what you're doing, certainly is legitimate, that's problematic.
And so I think what Jack Smith did in this indictment, is he looked at the states that were contested at issue. He looked at the President's -- then president's attempts with regard to those states, whether you look at fake electors that are being installed and plots that were being really, you know, ginned up by people who knew better whether you look at lawyers who were making fictitious arguments that was summarily rejected and dozens of court cases throughout the country. That's problematic.
And then when you try to have Congress not do its due diligence, and its job, its duty, to really pass the torch of power. And then you tell the Vice President, hey, you know what, you know what you have to do. That's troubling. And so I think when you read the indictment, certainly it speaks of a criminal enterprise that was directed by the president. He'll have his day in court and indictment is merely an accusation.
But boy, John, these compelling with regard to unlawful fraudulent and key activities in which he conspired with people to really do an injustice to every voter in this country.
VAUSE: And what is interesting here, Trump has been charged on an 1870 civil rights law meant to protect black voters from members of the Klu Klux Klan. The law prohibits two or more people from conspiring to enter, oppress, threaten or intimidate any person in the free exercise or enjoyment of any rival privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States. So fast forward to January 6 2021. What's the context of that chart?
JACKSON: I think votes matter, voters matter, the ability to express who you want to vote for matters. And when you engage in a plot that would overturn a person's free exercise of their vote, that would disenfranchise the voter by giving the false sense that there was all this election fraud that did not occur. And by trying to subvert the will of the people, I think that no matter when the statute that you referenced, John, was passed it really is fair game to speak to the issue of every vote counts needs to count.
[01:10:11]
And when it's undermined, undermined in an allegedly unlawful way, the federal government will have much to say about it. So I think it's an appropriate use of the statute, even though the timeframe and the purpose and the essence of which it's being used now is drastically different -- drastically different from what the founding fathers of this country intended.
VAUSE: Joey Jackson, good to see you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time.
JACKSON: Always. Thank you.
VAUSE: Evacuations of French and European nationals are underway from Niger after last week's military coup. Several 100 people flew out Tuesday on to jumbo jet set by Niger's former colonial power France. Still no word on 1,500 French soldiers deployed for counterterrorism operations. It's not knowing that they will be heading home anytime soon as well.
And France has denied accusations it's planning a military intervention to return the ousted president to power. Still supporters all the military coup complained France has an outsized almost imperial influence over the country. CNN's Larry Madowo has more now reporting in from Nairobi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The first evacuation flights took off from Niger on Tuesday in the wake of the military coup last week. Carrying French and other E.U. member states citizens and their immediate families. The French embassy asked him to be at the airport with one bag and to bring food and water in case it's a long wait.
The evacuation of several 100 people is expected to be completed in 24 hours.
CATHERINE COLONNA, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): There were serious and violent incidents which were organized and prepared targeting our Embassy on Sunday. We do not want to take any risks with the security of the French people.
MADOWO: Supporters of the military junta attack the French Embassy in the capital Niamey rallying against France's postcolonial influence there. Some waving Russian flags in several pro military protests, signaling a possible shift towards other coup leaders in West Africa that have used ration assistance in the fight against extremists, neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso fully supporting Niger coup leaders.
RIMTALBA JEAN EMMANUEL OUEDRAOGO, BURKINA FASO GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The transitional governments of Burkina Faso and Mali warned that any military intervention against Niger is tantamount to a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali.
MADOWO: Hit by a wave of military coups in the region in recent years. The West African leaders of ECOWAS on Sunday, given the Niger and military one week to release and reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and threatened to use force. The West African economic bloc imposed sanctions in Niger while France
and the EU cut economic aid. The United States which has yet to label it as a coup, suspended military cooperation, but hasn't withdrawn troops. Niger, one of the world's poorest nations is also one of the major producers of uranium, like its neighbors, it has been struggling with the rise of Islamist extremists.
IBRAHIM YAHAYA IBRAHIM, CONSULTING SENIOR SAHEL ANALYST, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: If you look at all the countries that surrounds Niger, they all are facing insecurity problems. And Niger, which was considered as you know, a sort of islands, you know, in this -- in the middle of all this insecurity has been holding up well.
MADOWO: Presidential guard and coup leader General Abdourahmane Tchiani claims the degradation of the security situation was his motive to take over the government. He hasn't explained what a change of strategy in fighting the insurgency would mean to 1,500 French and 1,000 American soldiers stationed there.
The anti-French sentiment is not the main driver of the coup or its supporters, experts in residency that remains a rallying point.
ALMOCTAR BOUKANI, NIAMEY RESIDENT (through translator): As an African, I can say that all the problems that Africans are experiencing in Niger, in Africa, it's France. That's at the heart of it. It's France that's at the root of our suffering.
MADOWO: Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Washington now, Cameron Hudson is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Africa Center. Thanks for coming back. It's good to see you.
CAMERON HUDSON: Thank you.
VAUSE: So a gathering of West African States has issued a demand for the coup to stand down how -- hand power back to the democratically elected president. He's a U.N. representative with more details on that threat and the ultimatum.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEONARDO SANTOS SIMAO, U.N. OFFICE OF WEST AFRICA AND THE SAHEL: Some way to give one week to the military junta to hand a big power to President Bazoum. If this doesn't happen with after that week, then the options on the making include the military intervention in good use of force that's what they said.
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VAUSE: Right now, is that a good idea here to draw lines in the sand and issue threats about military action? And is that threat credible? Or is it bluster? CAMERON HUDSON, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, it's a very dangerous gambit, to say the least. I think it is a question of as to whether or not the OCOWAS organization has the troops on the ready to commit to this kind of intervention. This is not a typical kind of intervention, trying to restore civilian democratic rule to a country. There's a hostage situation going on with the President right now.
So we're talking about freeing a hostage and then trying to restore that person into office, all the while doing it while potentially you have other armed forces in the region, namely Mali and Burkina Faso, pledging to commit forces to resist that military intervention. So, you're, you know, painting a picture of a regional war that could quickly ensue if we're not careful.
VAUSE: And it was very notable, it seems that the response to that threat did not come from the coup leaders in Niger. But as you said, it came from Mali and Burkina Faso. Here's a spokesperson for Burkina Faso.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OUEDRAOGO (through translator): We warned of the disastrous consequences of a military intervention in Niger, that could destabilize the entire region, as was the unilateral intervention of NATO in Libya that was at the origin of the expansion of terrorism in the Sahel and West Africa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, with both Burkina Faso and Mali saying that an attack on Niger, they would treat it as an attack on them. You mentioned this. It's possible laying the groundwork here for, you know, some kind of regional conflict. But in the long term, could that instability and that insecurity spread beyond the Sahel possibly across Africa?
HUDSON: Well, I think what we're seeing right now is a real division between military led states and democratic states within ECOWAS. But I think you could imagine those tens -- those tensions emerging across Africa, whether it's states that are working with the Wagner group or Russia more closely, for example, in Central African Republic, or states that have just seen a kind of unconstitutional or undemocratic transition of power.
I think what you're seeing right now is a dividing line within Africa and within ECOWAS between free and democratic states, and those under authoritarian rule, and also those that are facing right now, real genuine security threats. And despite what we might think about the junta in Niger that had just emerged, they are facing a real security threat from terrorist groups on the border encroaching into the country.
The problem here is, of course, that they think that the only way to manage those security threats is through military led government. And obviously, that's just, you know, not the way that the Western alliances or that Nigerians themselves have thought about addressing that security threat.
VAUSE: Well, long before the coup happened, Niger was working closely with the United States in counterterrorism and against, you know, fighting jihadist extremists in the region. You know, U.S. had been training troops in Niger to carry out these operations as well as also important for intelligence gathering.
So, can this relationship this very important relationship between Niger and the United States in terms of counterterrorism, Can that continue with this coup in place? Is there a workaround for the Biden administration?
HUDSON: Well, there's always a workaround. You can count on the U.S. Congress and the U.S. government always having a workaround. And in this case, there is a national security waiver that the Biden administration can employ to say that it's just too important to U.S. national security interests for us to abandon our post in Niger.
Obviously, they've not yet called it a coup, which clearly means that they are keeping their options open. I read that really as them trying to take as much time as they can to try to find some avenue to restore civilian rule, so they don't have to make the hard choice of choosing between democracy and security in this year.
VAUSE: Cameron, great to have you with us. Really appreciate your insights and your analysis. Good to see you. Thank you.
HUDSON: Thanks very much.
VAUSE: Coming up on CNN, Ukraine says the war is coming home to Russia. The drone attacks on Moscow high rises. Very latest on the conflict that's next.
And later, China's President orders rescue crews to spend no effort to save lives as record breaking rainfall causes widespread flooding.
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VAUSE: Ukraine's air defense system has intercepted 10 Russian drones over the Capitol and just the past few hours. Local officials in Kyiv safer now, there are no reports of injuries or serious damage. In the South, Ukrainian officials say a Russian drone strike in the Odesa region has damaged a grain elevator at a port facility.
And to the east, Russia shelled a medical facility and the city of Kherson. Ukrainian officials say a doctor was killed and a nurse wounded. At the same time, Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia continue to wrap up. And a Ukrainian presidential adviser says Moscow is now looking at the possibility of full-fledged war being waged on Russian territory.
Officials in Moscow say a high rise building which houses a number of government ministries was struck by a drone for the second night in a row on Tuesday. For the very latest now here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Ukrainian forces advancing near Bakhmut as Kyiv says they have Moscow's army on the backfoot on nearly all battlefields. And now Russia's capital increasingly in the crosshairs, another drone attack hitting a high rise building.
Suddenly there was this explosion and we immediately ran, this resident says. There were shards of glass and then smoke rising.
Well, authorities claimed the attack was thwarted. One drone damaged a building already struck two days prior in a complex housing several government offices.
Kyiv's message to the Kremlin the war is coming to them.
I think Moscow will have more and more war on its territory, the presidential adviser says, and this has nothing to do with Ukraine alone. Now this is due to the historical significance of this moment. If you start since a war, you have to expect that this war will be on your territory.
Ukraine is increasingly using drones to strike Russian targets both inside Russia and in Russian occupied territories, both in the air and on the water. After Kyiv have hit the Crimean bridge three weeks ago, Moscow now saying its forces thwarted a naval drone attack on cargo ships and the Black Sea, though Ukraine denies targeting civilian vessels.
The ships of the Russian Navy which escorted the sea transport detected and destroyed all the boats in a timely manner, the spokesman says. With Russian forces slowly getting pushed back in southern Ukraine, a rare alleged frontline visit by Putin stop general Valery Gerasimov getting updates from commanders in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian say, although it's not clear where exactly and when exactly the video was filmed.
Russia's military leadership trying to portray strength and control even as more Russians feel the war coming even closer. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Canberra, Australia and Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst both defense strategy and capability The Australian Strategic Policy Institute. It's good to see you. It's been a while.
[01:25:02]
MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, THE AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: So with Ukraine wrapping up these drone strikes deep inside Russian territory, we've heard from an advisor to the Ukrainian president, who is warning of much worse to come. This is his tweet or X. Moscow is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war, which in turn, will soon finally move to the territory of the authors of the war to collect all the debts. Everything that will happen in Russia is an objective historical process. More unidentified drones, more collabs, more civil conflicts more war.
Okay. So by using that term, full-fledged war, I see suggesting the Ukrainians if given the chance, we'd be willing to go beyond the liberation premiere, beyond the liberation of Russia occupied areas, you know, in eastern Ukraine. Precisely what is he saying here? What does he mean?
DAVIS: Look, I don't see Ukraine, invading Russia with ground forces anytime soon in a large scale attack. I think what he's probably referring to is these sorts of drone strikes, perhaps increasing intensity and in scope and scale. But I think that the Ukrainians would understand that if they actually then went ahead and invaded Russia with the aim, presumably to attack Moscow, they'd lose a lot of support.
The Ukrainians are the clear victims of Russian aggression. And so they've got a lot of support from Western democracies. I think if they then went on the offensive to the extent of going directly into Russia, I think that would be counterproductive for them.
VAUSE: Yes, you couldn't really blame them, though, on many levels for doing that if they did. But, you know, on top of Ukraine's existing defense budget, the U.S., Germany and the U.K. have given Ukraine almost $62 billion in military aid. This is up until May this year. And on the next seven countries for the top 10 donors for a total of $75 billion.
By contrast, even with a recent surge in spending, Russia's defense budget is said to be around $85 billion. And it seems kind of questionable how much of that 85 billion is well spent. So the bottom line here is that Ukraine is fast becoming a modern, well equipped NATO like military. Could it soon be at that point where Russia's sort of numerical superiority isn't another advantage anymore?
DAVIS: I think that's a possibility. But we'll see what happens with the Russian government in terms of whether it moves towards national mobilization. If it does that, then I think Ukraine's problems would be amplified in terms of the sheer numerical balance, but you're quite right.
The assistance that Ukraine has received from the West, it's a much more qualitatively capable force, I think, than it used to be. It's certainly battle experienced. And I think that, you know, assuming that this war does end, ultimately, with Ukraine, controlling all of its territory, including Crimea, and then joining NATO, I think that Ukraine will be very well equipped to counter any Russian threat against it short of obviously, Russia using nuclear weapons or something like that.
VAUSE: I want to listen to the Ukrainian president who was speaking about this, you know, taking the war to Russia last Sunday. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukraine is getting stronger. Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia, to its symbolic centers and military bases. And this is an inevitable natural and absolutely fair process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Under the rules of war, Ukraine has every right to attack military targets on Russian soil, as Zelenskyy said. But you touched on this, if Ukraine went beyond that any kind of major way, would the U.S. and NATO intervene? And could they actually prevent Ukraine from going any further?
DAVIS: Well, I don't think they could prevent it. But certainly, I think the concern on the part of Kyiv would be that you might then start to see the Western support in terms of military assistance dry up. And remember, in 2024, we're going into an election year in the U.S., which is going to be incredibly divisive. And I think that Ukraine understands the political realities here.
Yes, of course, they have every right to take the war to the Russians. I think, you know, they are the clear victims of Russian aggression here, that every right to defend their country and to fight back. But there are limits to how far they can go. And historically, every country that has tried to march on Moscow has failed.
So, I think that there needs to be a degree of caution here. By all means the Ukrainians should be looking at intensifying and widening those strikes against key Russian targets, using long range missiles and drones. But I think going on the ground, trying to launch an offensive against Moscow probably would be a bad move, particularly against a nuclear armed state like Russia.
VAUSE: Very good point to end on. Malcolm, thanks so much for being with us. Good to see you.
DAVIS: Thank you.
[01:30:00]
VAUSE: Poland is increasing security along the reporter with Belarus. Poland's defense minister says that its own troops and equipment including combat helicopters are being deployed to the region after Polish airspace was violated by two Belarusian helicopters, flying low, he says to avoid -- to avoid radar, I should say. Belarus says it never happened.
Poland is also concerned by Wagner mercenary fighters based not far from the border now training Belarusian soldiers.
Coming up, more on our lead story. The third indictment of Donald Trump, accusing him of criminal schemes to overturn the 2020 election.
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VAUSE: The now three times-indicted, twice-impeached, one-term U.S. President Donald Trump, is scheduled to appear in a federal court in Washington Thursday on charges of obstruction and conspiracy stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election presidential election results.
It's not known if Trump will appear in person, or by video link. The former president is accused of pressuring state election officials to overturn the vote, pressuring his vice president, Mike Pence, to not certify the results, and advancing a scheme to put forward fake electors in seven states which he lost.
Special counsel Jack Smith says the January 6th Capitol riot, was an unprecedented attack on American democracy and Trump and his allies exploited the violence to try and stay in power.
Attorney General Merrick Garland praised this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Jack Smith, the special counsel to take on the ongoing investigation in order to underline the department's commitment to accountability and independence. Mr. Smith and his team of experienced, principled, career agents and prosecutors have followed the facts and the law wherever they lead.
Any questions about this matter will have to be answered by the filings made in the courtroom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joining me now from Los Angeles is CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He's also a senior editor at "The Atlantic". And it's good to have you with us, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, John.
VAUSE: So this is now the third indictment of a former president in four months. I want you to listen to special counsel Jack Smith announcing he was charging Donald Trump. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL: Today an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding.
The indictment was issued by a grand jury of citizens here in the District of Columbia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:34:50] VAUSE: One of the few ways this indictment could be worse for Trump would be if he was charged with treason. I mean there's not much else here that could top this.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: And I think it's really important to listen to the special counsel because right now has the seriousness of this moment been lost in all the hype and all the buzz of everything that is Trump?
BROWNSTEIN: Well look, I think the preliminaries are over. This is the main event. This is the most consequential offense. As you note that Donald -- not only did Donald Trump perpetrated against the country, but almost that you could imagine any president perpetrating, short of collaborating with a foreign adversary.
Ruth Marcus of the "Washington Post" and I call this the most significant indictment in the history of the country. And it's hard to argue with that. The fact that so many Republican-elected officials, even before reading the evidence in the indictment were quick to dismiss it categorically, as politicization, weaponization of the Justice Department is ominous going forward.
But this, I think is the critical moment. This is the critical crucible of all the legal challenges facing Donald Trump.
VAUSE: And here's part of the response from the Trump campaign. "The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters, is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes."
That's beyond asinine. Was it written for an audience of one being Donald Trump? Or is that what his supporters want to hear?
BROWNSTEIN: Well look, Trump has, I think, successfully convinced the majority of the Republican Party that these charges, each one, each of these different prosecutors are part of a conspiracy so vast against him, and of course his argument is it's not really him, he's just in the way. These are the elites and the deep state, targeting you.
I mean the extent to which the Republican coalition is buying into these arguments, as I have said, is ominous about where this is headed. You know, you see in the polling in the "New York Times"/Siena Poll only something like 13 percent of Republicans believe he has committed a serious crime; three quarters say that it is post-2020 actions. All he was doing was exercising his legitimate right to contest the election, not threatening American democracy. 60 percent now described January 6th as legitimate protest.
The inability or unwillingness of voices that Republicans trust, they're elected leaders, to make a contrary case, to push back against Donald Trump, has in effect, painted them into a corner where the vast majority of their coalition believes his arguments and they kind of create a self-fulfilling prophecy in which they are afraid to challenge him, and he is by far the front runner for the GOP nomination even as his indictments accumulate around him sort of like snowdrifts.
VAUSE: And there could be more on the way. There is still the Georgia case. You know, find the 11,000 votes, a telephone conversation with the state attorney general. And the cost of Trump's legal fees are staggering. A political action committee, Save America, has spent already this year $40 million.
And on that, here's Republican presidential hopeful, Chris Christie. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This guy is a billionaire and how about we go down the street, maybe just sell Trump Tower to pay for his legal fees that way or maybe sell the plane. He could do that. Or go on to the golf courses.
But instead he's taking $25, $50, $100 from every day Americans who believe they are giving it to him to help elect him president?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's a good question. And certainly goes to the very heart of this accusation against Trump that he is running for president, for himself?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, that's a very powerful argument from Chris Christie. And it's even, i8 think, more powerful and revealing that it's coming from Chris Christie, and not someone who is within the range, you know, of the top tier of the race.
Again, the reluctance of other Republicans, including those ostensibly trying to beat him for the presidential nomination in 2024 to discuss and grapple with the magnitude of what is alleged here. And the behavior that is documented in this indictment is in some ways the most revealing moments of all.
I mean it suggests that the germ of election denial, the willingness to undermine democracy, if that's what it takes to advance partisan goals, has extended way beyond Trump. And that even legal consequences for him, will not undo the process that he has set in motion.
This is going to be a very fraught time for the country because unless something changes, he is going to be the Republican nominee, shoveling between the campaign trail and the courtroom. And this kind of collision between the political system and the legal system, reaching a level we have never seen before in American history.
VAUSE: Yes, this is a moment in history, not a good one, I guess.
Ron, good to see you. Thanks very much. Ron Brownstein, live --
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, John.
(CROSSTALK)
[01:39:54]
VAUSE: The U.S. credit rating has been downgraded by Fitch from their highest level, with the rating agency blaming the government's growing debt and expected fiscal decline.
This comes after yet another last-minute deal to raise the debt ceiling back in June and avoid a first-ever U.S. government default. In a statement, Fitch said there has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years including on fiscal and debt matters.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen disagrees with Fitch's ratings decision which she says is arbitrary and based on outdated data.
U.S. futures reacting, kind of I guess, to this news. The Dow futures down by a quarter of 1 percent. Nasdaq down by just over half of 1 percent. And S&P 500 down by a little less than half a point. Not much of a reaction.
Europe's (ph) biggest bank, HSBC, says cost-cutting and high interest rates has increased pretax profits to $8.8 billion for the second quarter.
CNN's Clare Sebastian has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Belt tightening by the bank and tighter global monetary policy -- those are the two key ingredients in another very strong set of earnings from HSBC.
The bank more than doubling its profits in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2022. Pretax earnings hitting $21.7 billion in the six months to June. While higher interest rates, of course, mean banks can charge more for loans and mortgages than they pay out on deposits. And HSBC has been aggressively cutting jobs and assets for the past few years.
It also notched up this time, an extra $1.5 billion in provisional earnings from the acquisitions of the U.K. arm of Silicon Valley Bank which collapsed in March. All this was good news for shareholders who'll be rewarded, with a share buyback of up to $2 billion, HSBC chief executive announced on Tuesday.
And yet, there are questions around whether savers should also be getting more. HSBC and other lenders are under scrutiny from the U.K. regulators for failing to raise rates on customers' savings accounts at a similar pace to interest rates.
Financial Conduct Authority (pH) said the U.K.'s top nine financial service providers including HSBC, Barclays and NatWest had an average pass through of only 28 percent of the base rate rise compared to an average of 80 percent between 2004 and 2009 for the majority of cash savings accounts.
A spokesperson for HSBC told CNN that the lender had raised it savings rate more than a dozen times since the beginning of last year. The bank on Tuesday raising it's outlook for the rest of this year.
Clare Sebastian, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, the hits keep coming for Syria, a region that's no stranger to tragedy, now fighting wildfires.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:44:55]
VAUSE: That ankle-deep water? Seem to go unnoticed, as this happy couple walk down the aisle last week in the Philippines. Typhoon Doksuri brought heavy rain and flooding as it made landfall in the northern part of the country.
And then it headed off China, which is now dealing with widespread flooding from typhoon Doksuri. Beijing recorded its heaviest rainfall since record began 140 years ago.
Rescues are ongoing across China, many like this one with the driver pulled from his car by helicopter amid rising floodwaters.
China's president has ordered emergency officials to restore normal living conditions, spare no effort, as soon as possible.
And now comes Typhoon Khanun already claiming one life as it moves closer to Japan. Nearly 700,000 people have been asked to evacuate the area, just days after it was hit by the Typhoon Doksuri.
More now from CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And the remnants of Doksuri really have completely left China altogether. Maybe a few scattered showers in the parts of eastern Russia and North Korea. Buit that's it.
This is our next storm. This is the next one we are watching. Khanun -- this is the storm that is now just to the south of Okinawa. This is the satellite picture here and a very tight eye, which means the wind speeds have not slowed down in the daylight hours, or into the nighttime hours.
We are still seeing a very powerful, 205 -- maybe 215 kilometer per hour storm. There is the eye itself, still now moving to the west of Okinawa and away. But think of all of the waves, the wind, and the destruction still happening right now on the eastern side of Okinawa. 205 kph moving to the west at about 11 kph right now.
Here is where it gets interesting. Where does it go from here? Well essentially, nowhere. Not much of a turn to the north, or to the west here. A slight slide to the west, still a big storm, 150 kph. Getting into the water again, but the water is cooling down because the storm is in the water so long, using up the energy, using up the warmth of that water. And then probably turning off to the east.
But notice from here to here, only a couple of hundred kilometers. And that is five days from now. The real risk is flash flooding if this rain continues over any of those islands for any length of time. The computers are not convinced where this is going to go. Because there is no wind to push it anywhere.
Here is one of the models. Takes it to the west, turns into the right. And then finally, off towards the north and towards the northeast. But that's many, many days away.
The amount of rainfall that could come down from Okinawa, to all the other islands here, even towards Kyushu could see some very heavy rainfall, depending on where this storm truly goes.
And if you look at this wide part right here, the lightest part, right through here. That's 500 millimeters of rainfall or more. That's the size of South Korea, 500 millimeters or more in that entire area.
Now the good news is. That is ocean, or the sea. That is water. If this 500 millimeters or more -- there could be a meter somewhere -- is over an island, that is going to cause significant flash flooding.
So we are watching it for you here, still a storm that has a lot of energy with it right now. Waves, wind, and certainly the loss of life possible with all of that very heavy rainfall and flooding.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks, Chad.
Six months after a powerful deadly earthquake devastated parts of Syria, fire crews are now trying to contain wildfires in the scorching heat wave.
Here is CNN's Eleni Giokos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A war, an earthquake and now a wildfire. Syrian farmer Izzadin Zuhaira (ph), has faced every one of these disasters. His home, as he told Reuters, already damaged by war and also by February's earthquake. Now the orchids, his very source of livelihood, our burned to ashes.
IZZADIN ZUHAIRA, SYRIAN FARMER (through translator): It left us with nothing at all. Now we need everything. We even need bread, because we don't even have trees anymore and nothing to spare (ph).
GIOKOS: Like many parts of the Mediterranean region, Syria's Latakia Province has been severely affected by wildfires in recent weeks. Syria's agriculture minister says fires here burned for over five days before firefighters could get them under control.
MOHAMMAD HASSAN QATANA, SYRIAN AGRICULTUR MINISTER (through translator): Most of the fires have been more controlled. There are two to three locations. We dealt with them, with all available capabilities.
GIOKOS: Firefighters also struggled to put out the fires in Syria's Homs and Hama Province, earlier this month. And Syria's White Helmets, a volunteer rescue and emergency group also battled fires in Idlib Province last week.
As for the culprit, Zuhaira says extreme heat is to blame for the destruction of his olive, pomegranate and walnut trees.
[01:49:52]
ZUHAIRA: I have never witnessed such weather. The temperature has been very high during the past 15 to 20 days and because trees and land are exposed to high temperatures for a long time, they burned really quickly.
GIOKOS: A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters Syria 's war-torn population is among the most vulnerable to climate change.
SUHAIR ZAKKOUT, SPOKESPERSON, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: All the (INAUDIBLE) of conflict has made everything weak either infrastructure or the resilience of people. If we mention that 50 percent of the food production of agricultural production is less due to the conflict and climate change combined. But these countries are, unfortunately as you mentioned forgotten when it comes to climate coping and adaptation and for climate action.
GIOKOS: Beside erratic rainfall and rising heat the ICRC says dust storms, desertification and land loss have been impacting Syrian farmers for years.
Eleni Giokos, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The British government has formally acknowledged acts of genocide were committed by the terrorist group, ISIS against the Yazidis in Iraq in 2014. This is only the fifth time Britain has recognized genocide. The Holocaust is on that list.
Britain says the acknowledgment strengthens their commitment to (INAUDIBLE) the Yazidis which need some compensation owed to them, and have access to justice.
ISIS killed or enslaved thousands of Yazidis in an assault on northern Iraq 9 years ago, then home to more than half a million members of that minority group.
We take a short pause. When we come back, much more after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: For the latest in the Women's World Cup, where the final Group F and G matches will be decided in the hours ahead. Argentina will take on Sweden who have already clinched their spot in the knockout but Argentina need a win to have any chance of advancing.
And South Africa will face off against Italy for a spot in the 16th round. In Group F, Brazil must win against Jamaica to stay alive. France will face Panama but is expected to go through with a draw.
Meantime the U.S. limped into a next round after a tense draw with Portugal. While the European champions, England, roared into round 16.
CNN's Don Riddell has highlights from Tuesday's matches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: The U.S. team arrived as the favorites for the World Cup and they set off in pursuit of what would be an unprecedented feat, a third, consecutive world title.
So far, there was good news and there was also bad news. Here's the good news. They are unbeaten, they're through to the knockout stage. Here's the bad news. They were this close from being knocked out and their fans are starting to wonder if this team is capable of going much further.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think if you are a U.S. soccer fan right now, it is time to panic. Panic.
U.S. Soccer fans, it is time to panic.
RIDDELL: That's CNN's John Berman earlier today. Tuesday's action in New Zealand was dramatic. We'll start with the 2019 finalists, the Netherlands, who thrashed Vietnam in Group E.
This game really was illuminated by a couple of goals from Esmi Brugts (ph). She scored twice. Both goals were brilliant. And you're not seeing double, her goal seemed to be almost identical. Both perfectly curled into the top corner.
With that, the Dutch eased to a 7-nil win meaning they finish top of the group with 7 points.
[01:54:58]
RIDDELL: That is the kind of performance that the USA. were hoping for against Portugal, but they really labored to their second consecutive draw. And it could've been so much worse.
That was Portugal's Ana Capeta, hitting the post in injury time. A couple of inches just to the left and Portugal would've gone through at the Americans expense. These players know how lucky they are to have survived.
England are comfortably through to the last 16, thanks to a 6-1 thrashing of China. Alessia Russo's control and quick feet there gave the Lionesses an early lead. And they never looked back.
Lauren James is rapidly emerging as a major star in this tournament. China, perhaps unwise to give her so much space to score England's third goal. And she was on target again in the second half, with a brilliant volley. Two stunning goals for Lauren James. She also had three assists as England become only the second team to win all three games so far. The European champions are flying into the next round.
Elsewhere, in Group D, Denmark confirmed their onward progress with a 2-nil win against Haiti. Their captain Pernille Harder has scored a penalty midway through the first half. But it wasn't until the 10th minute of injury time, at the end of the game, that they could be sure of the win.
That is when center (INAUDIBLE) guard Nielsen made it 2-0. Meaning that Denmark were able to celebrate their first appearance in the knockout round for 28 years. Having finished second in the group, Denmark will now have a massive challenge against the co-host, Australia in Sydney on Monday, while England's Lionesses will play Nigeria for a place in the quarterfinals.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks, John. Well, I guess the question is who screwed up at NASA? Because now it says it's basically shouting into the cosmos to try and reestablish contact with Voyager 2, call home. Anyway they say they can hear Voyagers heart beat, thanks for help from the deep space network and radio science group.
But (INAUDIBLE) from NASA last month, this is the part accidentally caused the antenna to point away from earth, meaning no communication to or from the Voyager. Oops.
NASA is hoping new commands can re-orientate the antenna. But the chances of success are low.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. The news continues on CNN with Rosemary Church right after this.
See you back here tomorrow.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump indicted over his efforts to overturn --
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