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CNN International: Trump Set to Surrender in Fulton County Today; Giuliani Surrenders in Fulton County, Attacks Prosecutor; Wagner Boss Prigozhin Presumed Killed in Plane Crash; Eight Republican Rival Face Off in First Primary Debate; Japan's Release of Treated Fukushima Wastewater Underway. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 24, 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]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the World. Tons of huge stories for you coming up. I am Bianca Nobilo

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is quite possible that he could have his mug shot taken, he would be fingerprinted when he does go and report to the Fulton County Jail here in Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was playing the victim saying that he had been charged for essentially doing his job to help the former president as an attorney.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you expecting the incoming that you got tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You now, it was an honor. I take it as a badge of honor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without Trump on that stage, really needed to show that they could put up a fight and give as good as they can take.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably the last moments of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, this jet, an Embraer Legacy 600, seen falling from the sky, a wing appearing to be missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putin never forgives and never forgets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

FOSTER: It is Thursday, August 24, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Atlanta where Donald Trump is expected to surrender to authorities later today. This would be the former U.S. president's fourth time being arrested in the criminal investigation.

NOBILO: So far 9 of his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case have already surrendered. Three of Trump's former attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell and Jenna Ellis being the latest. The remaining 10 have a Friday deadline turn themselves in voluntarily Giuliani went after full County District Attorney Fani Willis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: Fani Willis will go down in American history as having conducted one of the worst attacks on the American Constitution ever when this case is dismissed. She has violated people's First Amendment right to advocate for the government, to petition the government for grievances like an election they believe was poorly conducted or falsely conducted. People have a right to believe that in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Like Trump, Giuliani has been barred from speaking to any of the other 18 co-defendants or witnesses in the case. He was released on a $150,000 bond agreement. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Donald Trump will be coming into Georgia on Thursday with a full security detail as he proceeds to jail in response to the Georgia indictment related to his actions after the 2020 election and a racketeering conspiracy. Quite a moment for a former president to be going to jail, something he did not do in any of the other criminal indictments he faces.

And that will make him the 10th person that we know of as of Thursday in these cases to be reporting to jail. Several others on Wednesday reported to jail including Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell and Jenna Ellis, all lawyers working around Donald Trump after the election. All were able to put up bond so that they would be released and would not have to await their trial from jail. Donald Trump is expected to do the same. He has negotiated bond in advance. But it is quite possible that he could have his mug shot taken, he would be fingerprinted, there would be other details taken down of him when he does go and report to the Fulton County Jail here in Georgia.

At the same time there are two defendants that we still are watching to see what will happen with them Thursday and Friday. They are both administration officials that work for Donald Trump. Mark Meadows, his Chief of Staff in the White House, and Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official. Both of those men were trying to hold off their arrest or their need to self surrender this week and a judge on Wednesday said that wouldn't be possible, that they would need to self surrender or would be arrested if they did not meet a deadline of noon on Friday.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says Meadows' request to move the case to a federal court should be thrown out since the conduct in question was political activity outside of his official duties. She says, quote:

There is no authority anywhere for the president or his Chief of Staff to insert themselves into the electoral processes of the state of Georgia. Meaning none of the defendants' actions were either necessary or proper.

FOSTER: Now Bernarda Villalona, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor joins us now from New York. Thank you so much for joining us. Take us through what we expect to see today and how Trump's appearance will differ from the other ones we've seen.

BERNARDA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND FORMER PROSECUTOR: Good morning, Max. Today is definitely unprecedent and it is different than the other three times that Donald Trump has been arrested and processed. Now why do I say that? So he's reporting to Fulton County Jail. That's number one right there.

[04:05:00]

His other three arrests, he didn't respond to a jail. He actually either reported to the courthouse or the D.A. office or to the U.S. attorney's office to be processed. But this time he is going straight to jail to be processed.

Number two, when he actually goes there and gets processed, there is a high possibility and if you were a betting person, that his mug shot will be taken because Fani Willis is not giving any courtesies to anyone in this case.

Number three, there is actually bail that has been set unlike his three other cases. There's been a bond of $200,000 that has been negotiated. His other three cases, he didn't have to shed out even one penny.

And also there are conditions to his release, that being that he can't threaten or intimidate his co-defendants or witnesses in the case or even talk to them about this case. So those are the main differences that Donald Trump is facing and what we're going to see today in this unprecedented, in history-making of a day when Donald Trump is going to be processed for the fourth time in less than five months.

FOSTER: In terms of how they're defending themselves, you know, we also heard a bit of yesterday from Rudy Giuliani. I mean, what did you make of any of those efforts?

VILLALONA: Giuliani is a joke. It's so sad how he's falling from his high reigns that he used to have here in New York City, as the mayor of New York City. In terms of defending themselves, first off, we're talking about 19 different defendants and all 19 different defendants are in different positions. When it comes to Donald Trump, of course Donald Trump is going to try

to separate himself but also try to make the other defendants still happy because he doesn't want them to flip on him. In terms of what Donald Trump is going to try to do, of course he's going to try to move it to federal court. Surprisingly enough he didn't start with that motion now like Mr. Meadows actually did. Instead he's going to wait until a later time. But right now it's a wait and see. It's very early on. We're just in the processing stage of this case.

FOSTER: OK, Bernarda, thank you so much for joining us with your insight. Thank you.

Now at least three people have been killed in a mass shooting in Southern California Wednesday night, it happened at a popular biker bar. At least six people were transported to hospital, some with gunshot wounds. Police say they killed the shooter just two minutes after arriving at the scene.

NOBILO: A law enforcement source tells CNN that the shooter was a former law enforcement officer himself and authorities are investigating the incident as a possible domestic dispute.

Questions are swirling this morning over the fate of the Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Russian aviation officials say he was on board a plane that crashed near Moscow Wednesday evening. State media report all seven passengers and three crew members were killed.

FOSTER: Prigozhin led his mercenary fighters in a number of key battles in eastern Ukraine. Then in June he launched a short-lived rebellion against Russian military leadership. His plane was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg when it stopped transmitting flight data about 6:00 p.m. local time.

NOBILO: CNN's Clare Sebastian is following these developments. Clare, first and foremost, let's talk about why it's necessary to exercise such caution when talking about this extremely dramatic story. Why can we not necessarily trust exactly what we might be hearing from Russian state sources?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well so, what we know is from Russian state aviation agency, Rosaviation, that they published the manifest essentially of who was on the plane and they said there were no survivors and Yevgeny Prigozhin was among them. But this is obviously a Russian state agency, they work for the Russian state. And so, you know, you cannot necessarily assume that everything that they say is true.

On the other hand, we also do have several Wagner links, Telegram channels, that are not actual Wagner, not his press service or anything like that, saying that they believe that he has died.

But then several others are saying, you know, please don't publish any unverified information. Please be careful. So look, I think there are still questions. It does seem certainly if you look at these images that there were no survivors here and obviously, you know, Russians are saying his name was on the manifest. But there are a lot of questions swelling about this.

And this morning as we get these images in the light of day of the crash site, you know, it's really important to look at this and to see, you know, where the wreckage has fallen. State media is saying that there was a two plus kilometer radius. And we are already hearing eyewitness statements as well. Take a listen. I don't think we have that.

But we did hear from eyewitnesses about hearing a bang in the sky and then a plume of smoke. Not necessarily this particular witness said about consistent with an explosion that you might hear on the ground which have an echo. So all that is going to be pieced together. And crucially important is what I think see today what the Kremlin might say because it does feels like state media is sort of waiting for a steer on how to handle this.

NOBILO: And concomitantly, we might have developments in the trial of Evan Gershkovich.

[04:10:00]

How far does this increased deterioration, relationship between U.S. and Russia? Every week it seems to get worse. How far will that make an impact?

SEBASTIAN: You know, I think it's now extremely clear that's going to be a pretty long road ahead for Evan Gershkovich. His pretrial detention has been extended this morning for three months, that takes him to November 30th, which is eight months after he was arrested. This is not unusual because of course we saw with Trevor Reid and Paul Whelan, they were both in pretrial detention for more than a year. I think it was very -- this is a formality really. It was very unlikely at this point they were going to let him out, one, because of the political climate in Russia. Two, because of the worsening relations with the U.S.

But also, the elephant in the room here is that this is potentially a high value swap for Russia. We don't know anything about that yet. But you know, as for the Evan Gershkovich case, I think we can -- we know from precedent that Russia tends to want to wait until a trial is over to show that they are going through the legal process before they do any kind of swap and we don't even have a trial date.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you.

FOSTER: Donald Trump may have skipped the first presidential primary debate, but eight of his rivals were there hoping for a standout moment on stage. We'll have the highlights.

NOBILO: Plus, a treated radioactive waste water from Japan's Fukushima nuclear site is now being released into the ocean. It's a controversial move that's drawn protests in the region. The latest and a live report from Tokyo.

FOSTER: And also ahead, the climate crisis is fueling wildfires in Canada, Europe and other parts of the world and making them more intense. Details later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:20]

NOBILO: Eight U.S. presidential hopefuls took to the stage in the critical swing state of Wisconsin for last night's first Republican primary of the 2024 race.

FOSTER: Each of the candidates looking for their breakout moment to show why they are a better choice than the current frontrunner Donald Trump who opted out of the debate, as several candidates traded bars with entrepreneur, Vivek Ramaswamy and slammed him for his lack of experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE PENCE, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Joe Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad. Now is not the time for on- the-job training. We don't need to bring in a rookie, we don't need to bring in people without experience.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now that everybody's gotten there memorized pre-prepared slogans out of the way, we can actually have a real discussion now. The reality and the fact of the matter is --

PENCE: Is that one of yours?

RAMASWAMY: Not really, Mike, actually. We're just going to have some fun tonight. Let us be honest as Republicans, I'm the only one on the stage who's not bought and paid for so I can say that this. The climate change agenda is a hoax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa.

RAMASWAMY: The climate change agenda is a hoax.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here and the last person in one of these debates who stood in the middle of the stage and said, what's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here was Barack Obama and I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight.

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said if you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: While Ramaswamy seemed to be the focal point, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who was polling second behind Trump -- though quite away behind -- had a much more quite night and wasn't on the end of many attacks. FOSTER: The economy, abortion and Ukraine among the top topics of the

night. Candidates took swipes at President Joe Biden as well, but also at former president Trump whose legal troubles became a hot topic during the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice? Please raise your hand if you would.

RAMASWAMY: Let's just speak the truth, OK? President Trump, I believe was the best president of the 21st century.

CHRISTIE: Whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of president of the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: So who do voters think performed best during the debate? Well, CNN's Gary Tuchman spoke to some of them about their top choice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Who do you think won the debate? I'm going to do it in alphabetical order to be fair. Anyone think Doug Burgum is the best? Zero. Anyone think Chris Christie did the best? He certainly got most of the air time. A lot of air time, not most of the air time.

How about Ron DeSantis? How many of you think Ron DeSantis did the best? That's two people. How about Nikki Haley? One, two, three, four people. Asa Hutchinson? Mike Pence? Zero. Vivek Ramaswamy? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Tim Scott. OK, so this panel here thinks Ramaswamy won the debate. Tell me why you think he won the debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was reminded of the time when have I when Vivek was talking about the national identity situation. And I know Mike Pence brought up that -- that wasn't really an issue. But I think it was a generational problem because Vivek understands that young folks don't really understand that people my age don't really love America and if you don't love it, you can't protect it. And I think if you fix that problem, then people will as a natural by byproduct want to protect America and what it stands for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: And voters will get to have another look at all the candidates. The next Republican debate is set for next month.

FOSTER: South Korea says it is trying to salvage debris from North Korea's failed spy satellite launch. Pyongyang admitted the rocket carrying the satellite experienced a malfunction after liftoff on Thursday. Japan says the rocket broke apart with pieces scattering into the Yellow Sea, east of China Sea and Pacific Ocean. It was North Korea's second failed attempt in three months to deploy a spy satellite. But Pyongyang says it plans to try again in October. Japan, South Korea and the U.S. have condemned the launch.

NOBILO: China says it firmly opposes and strongly condemns Japan's release of treated radioactive waste water from the Fukushima nuclear site into the ocean. Japan began the release just a few hours ago now.

[04:20:00]

It's part of a controversial government plan that's been in the works for years but has nonetheless sparked anxiety and health concerns in the region.

To discuss, CNN's Marc Stewart joins us from Tokyo. Marc, is there anybody in the scientific community that still has concerns about this?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of it, Bianca, depends on the source and where you sit in the world. A lot of nations including Japan and broadly speaking, do buy into this explanation from the International Atomic Energy Agency that this is a safe and proven procedure. Yet there are neighbors who have not necessarily had a strong relationship with Japan from the start, such as China, that continue to express reservation about these different findings.

But this water release is taking place. It is a herculean task. It is something that will take years to complete. Consider this, the amount of water being held in these tanks of the Fukushima Daiichi plant could fill about 500 Olympic size swimming pools. We saw them for ourselves when we were there earlier in the year.

Now this move is certainly drawing reaction. Hong Kong for example is no longer accepting imports of Japanese seafood from some different locations across Japan. And China again, it continues to express reservations about the scientific process and effectiveness of all of this. It recently came up at a recent ministry of foreign affairs briefing. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WANG WENBIN, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): It is unjustified, unreasonable and unnecessary for Japan to push through the ocean discharge plan. We urge Japan not to shift the risk of nuclear pollution on to the rest of humanity in pursuit of its selfish interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: So Japan is still moving forward despite the objection from its neighbor in Japan -- in China I should say. The real issue here is the presence of a radioactive isotope called tritium. Despite all of the science and technology that is out there, it's not possible to remove it entirely. However, nuclear plants around the world discharge water in a similar fashion, that have that isotope. But according to the International Energy Agency -- Atomic Energy Agency as well as the World Health Organization, those levels are acceptable and the human risk is extremely low. Saying that there are other activities that use higher amounts of radiation.

Finally, Max and Bianca, I should point out, this release is not without supervision. There will be a boat in the water. Samples will be taken. They will be tested. It is something that the power company here in Japan, as well as the Japanese government maintains will be watched start to finish.

NOBILO: Marc, anxieties do persist though among the population. Is that having any impact on domestic support for the government and the Prime Minister Fumio Kishida?

STEWART: Well, the Prime Minister has been struggling in the polls lately. That's not necessarily anything new. The difference in support in many ways will depend on where you are from in Japan. So for example, we went to Fukushima a few months ago. We went to this fishing village. And fishermen there, while they do understand and to a degree perhaps accept some of the scientific research, they know that there is this big lingering perception.

But other parts of Japan, it is not so much an issue. It really is based on our experiences, the way this is seen, the way this has been accepted, it really depends where you are in the nation.

NOBILO: Marc Stewart for us in Tokyo. Thank you so much for following that story for us.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, from prosecuting racketeering crimes to now being charged with it, Rudy Giuliani's legal career has changed traumatically. That story and much more when we return.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories.

A Russian court has extended the detention of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich for another three months. The American citizen is being held on espionage charges which he denies.

And in just a few hours, Donald Trump is expected to surrender that the Fulton County Jail in the Georgia election interference investigation. It's unclear whether the former president will have a mug shot and fingerprints taken there.

NOBILO: But here's the one who did have a mug shot taken, Rudy Giuliani. He was once the face of prosecuting racketeering crimes. Now Trump's former attorney is out on bond after surrendering Wednesday for allegedly committing that same crime. These one of 19 co- defendants including former U.S. President Donald Trump, charged for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state of Georgia. CNN's Paula Reid has the latest from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Rudy Giuliani traveled down to Georgia on Wednesday to negotiate his bond and then surrender at the Fulton County Sheriff's Office. His bond was set at $150,000. He will have to put a portion of that up in cash. He's also subject to a list of restrictions including being barred from discussing the case with any of his co-defendants.

Former President Trump is of course a co-defendant and he's also hosting a fundraiser for Giuliani in a few weeks to try to help him raise money for these many defenses that he needs to put on. So unclear how exactly he's going to not discuss this case with Trump.

But going forward, it'll be interesting to see if his lawyer that he worked with today, Brian Tevis, stays on the case. Giuliani currently faces seven figures of unpaid legal debt. It was unclear if he'd be able to find an attorney here in Georgia. He just needed someone to sign that bond agreement. Brian Tevis was able to do that.

But when I asked if he is going to stay on the case, he said that remains to be seen. When asked if he was getting paid, he declined to answer.

You know, is notable that even though Giuliani's lawyers were in court a week ago saying that he could not afford to pay his legal bills, he flew into Georgia on a private jet even though he is just miles from the biggest airport in the world. It is unclear how he was able to afford that specific mode of transportation, but it did allow him to knock out the bond negotiations and his surrender all in one day, which I'm told was his goal. That he wanted to get back to New York before former President Trump arrived in Atlanta Thursday.

Paula Reid, CNN, Fulton County, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:30:00]