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Former Trump Attorney John Eastman To Face Charges In AZ "Fake Electors" Scheme; Scheffler Tees Off At PGA Championship After Felony Charge; Israel Military Makes Announcement On Hostages. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired May 17, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:48]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. And we're following two big stories this hour. Just a short time from now Trump ally and former Attorney John Eastman will be the first of 18 defendants arraigned on charges stemming from the 2020 fake electoral scheme.

Also President Biden making an urgent new push to appeal to black voters. He set to deliver a speech later this hour aimed at reversing a lack of enthusiasm among this critical voting bloc. We're going to bring that speech to you live that's coming up this hour.

But let's begin with all the developments involving John Eastman, the architect of Donald Trump's bid to try to subvert the 2020 presidential election. And that's set to be or he's set to be arraigned for this alleged role in devising what's being described as a fake electoral scheme. Eastman is the first of 18 Trump allies to be arraigned there on charges including conspiracy and forgery.

CNN senior investigative correspondent Kyung Lah is joining us from Phoenix right now where all of this is unfolding. Kyung, what's the latest?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Wolf, from Phoenix, Arizona, we're in this next hour, we are expecting all of these arraignments to begin in superior court here in Maricopa County. What is expected is the very first of the 18 charged in this indictment to appear. John Eastman, the former Trump attorney, the person who is known in this indictment as the alleged craftsman, the architect of this multistate fake electoral scheme. He is expected to appear here in Arizona. It is the very first of the 18 charged in the state indictment to appear here in court.

It will be a standard arraignment where the charges will be read and he will be booked. There will be a mugshot taken we're told from the Sheriff's Department. This case involves a scheme in 2020 where people gathered, 11 of them here in the state of Arizona and said that it was Donald Trump who won the state of Arizona. It was not, Joe Biden won. And then they submitted that document. And so this indictment is around that moment. So there are 11, who were in that room in 2020. Those 11 are familiar state names from the head of the state GOP to two state senators. But it is this second group, the seven who are on this page, including Rudy Giuliani, who here in the state of Arizona, they're still trying to serve those papers, who are known nationally as Trump allies, including Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff. But kicking all this off the very first of the 18 to appear in court, John Eastman. Wolf?

BLITZER: Kyung Lah reporting for us from Phoenix, thanks very much. For more than all of this, and it's an important story, I want to bring in CNN legal analyst Michael Moore, and former Florida judge and Cooley Law School professor Jeff Swartz. Michael, you are the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, the state where so many of the same Trump aides were indicted for trying to overturn the election results there. What do you make of this case in Arizona over this fake electoral scheme?

MICHAEL MOORE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. Well, I'm glad to be with both of you. You know, this really tracks much of the same type of information and allegations that we see in the Georgia indictment and others. And that is dealing with whether or not there was some forgery committed by presenting false documents and the signatures and that is the offenses that can be defined by state law. So you're seeing state officials bringing these charges.

You know, there's a part of me who is a 100 percent for accountability and for having things brought forward when there are issues like this. There's another part that concerns me to see cases like this just popping all over -- popping up all over the country, as opposed to sort of a consolidated approach to bring things to a resolution. You'll have different appeals courts. You'll have different decisions that are made by trial court judges, though the facts might be very similar.

So it's a serious charge. Obviously, it can affect both the law licenses for those involved with their lawyers as well as the liberty of them if they are convicted. And so it's certainly significant but again it mirrors a lot of the same type of allegations that we've seen here at the Georgia case.

[11:05:13]

BLITZER: Yes, important point. Jeff, as far as we can tell, Rudy Giuliani has still yet to be served with the papers. Our John Miller is reporting that Arizona prosecutors can't find him. Do you expect this to happen before next week, where he is due -- when he is due to appear?

JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER FLORIDA JUDGE: Well, there are rumors. First of all, good morning, there are rumors that in fact, Mr. Giuliani is someplace in the West Palm Beach area of Florida. If that is so and his associates are refusing to surrender him, there's a possibility that they're going to add -- they're going to serve a warrant on him in West Palm Beach, and he's going to get booked. And until he agrees to extradition to Arizona, he's going to be jailed. And the question is going to be how long he wants to stay jailed rather than surrender himself in Arizona. So it could be very interesting to see Mr. Giuliani being booked into a jail and residing there for a period of time. My understanding is he's in financial difficulties. So the chance of making a bond are pretty slim.

BLITZER: Interesting, very interesting. The reports are, he's been traveling between the West Palm Beach and New York and they can't find him right now. We'll see what happens on that front. Michael, I want to turn quickly to the hush money trial that's unfolding in New York. How do you think Michael Cohen fared yesterday, compared to the first day of cross examination?

MOORE: I thought it was a devastating day for the state's case. You took the key witness who basically tries to tie everything together. And essentially, the string they used to tie it up unraveled on the stand as it related particularly to this telephone call that he said he thought he knew what was discussed. And therefore when confronted with other facts, he did not.

And I think to what you've seen is sort of he's been maybe playing the Eddie Haskell a little bit going forward in this case. He's been very calm, and everything has seemed normal. And then suddenly, the defense brings out these podcasts, these comments that he's made. They catch him and have trues and complete untruths, as they have presented the defense.

And that's when you have a critical witness, like you'd have with Mr. Cohen. That is just a devastating blow to a case. I had a trial where a judge actually stopped the case and said, I'm not letting the government proceed, because I don't believe the witness. We're not at that point. But it was not a good day, certainly for the case.

And I think that you'll see Monday, you'll see some very specific points delve into by the defense, there'll be an effort to try to rehabilitate him. But this lack of credibility and the damage that was done to him I think will likely stick in the jurors mind and I think increases the chances of perhaps a, you know, a mistrial or, you know, a hung jury in the case. So it's just -- it was just not a good day for the state.

BLITZER: Yes. No trial today. We'll see what happens on Monday when the trial resumes. Michael Moore, Jeff Swartz to both of you. Thank you very much.

We're following other breaking news as well. Right now the world's number one golfer Scottie Scheffler teed off less than an hour or so ago over at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, after he was arrested earlier in the morning and actually charged with a felony. The crowd by the way, gave Scheffler a round of applause when he showed up.

He also just released a statement writing among other things, quote, it was a very chaotic situation understandably so, considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier. And there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do, close quote.

ESPN is reporting that Scheffler tried to maneuver around a fatal crash scene by driving on a median near the entrance to the Valhalla Golf Club. Police say they told him to stop but Scheffler continued to drive toward the golf club. He now faces four charges including a felony count of second degree assault on a police officer. His attorney says Scheffler will be cooperating.

We also just learned that Louisville police are reviewing body cameras from officers of the scene and will make a statement later today. We'll watch for that. Editorial director of Golf Digest, Max Adler, is joining us right now and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey is joining us as well. Max, first of all, what do you make of Scottie? Scheffler's arrest?

MAX ADLER, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, GOLF DIGEST: Absolutely wild way to wake up to the second day of a major championship. And, you know, I think one thing to remember is that golf tournaments are always have very difficult traffic logistics, more so than other sporting events that visit regular stadiums. This is just wild. He's obviously the best player in the world right now, world number one. He's been on a run of play reminiscent of Tiger Woods from 20 years ago.

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And yes, I think the main questions that remain right now is what actually happened earlier this morning when he was trying to get to the golf course, police saying, you know, what was the right amount of force used or was it excessive and being exaggerated?

BLITZER: Which sets the scene for our discussion with Chief Ramsey? Chief, police were already on the scene there have an act of accident that an earlier occurred? How do you think that potentially fed into the chaos that develop?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, I can understand the chaos because you had a major sporting event taking place nearby. So you got a lot of people trying to get to that event. But the bottom line is this, a sporting event is not more important than the investigation of a fatal traffic accident or a homicide.

And so there's a reason why police officers block off that area. There's forensic evidence that has to be collected. There's all kinds of things that take place during a fatal traffic accident and taking it upon yourself to try to drive around is not the way to do it to walk up, explain who you are, the officers can escort you in a way in which you don't at all interrupt what's going on at the crime scene.

Now, having said that, fortunately, it looks like they have body worn camera footage, that's going to tell us the story as to what took place because the most important charge, of course, is the assault charge.

BLITZER: I think we've lost our connection with Chief Ramsey, we'll try to reconnect with him. Max Adler if you're still there, give us a little sense about Scottie because he's well known now as the number one golfer really in the world, not necessarily because of any controversies like this.

ADLER: Yes, I mean, first off, I'd agree with everything Chief Ramsey said that the most important thing right now is to see the body cam footage and the dash cam footage and see what really occurred of this interaction between Scottie Scheffler and the police officers. You know, at golf tournaments, it's normal for all players who have assigned courtesy vehicles from the tournament that are clearly marked to expect a certain amount of a different treatment as they're entering the traffic congested golf tournaments.

As far as Scottie's reputation in the golf world, it's sterling. As I said, he's been on this great run of winning, known as a very wholesome, good guy, definitely a rule follower. Just had the birth of his first child, the specter of which overhung him possibly missing the Masters or this PGA Championship. You know, all to say that his image is crystal clear so far. And so this has been quite a shock to think that he would do anything that was untoured.

BLITZER: He has a very, very positive reputation out there. We'll see how all this unfolds. Chief Ramsey, I think we've reconnected with you. Tell us what police are looking for right now. They review the body camera footage to understand exactly as much as they can what happened.

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, they're going to see, first of all, whether or not there was an assault that took place when he was driving a car around the scene. Did officers direct him to do that? Was he told to stop that he failed to stop? There's something about an officer perhaps grabbing him by the arm. If so what was his reaction, his response to that? In other words, they'll try to dissect that film to find out exactly what took place.

But again, and I think it's important to emphasize I understand he's a big time pro golfer. He's not is more important than the investigation of a fatal traffic accident, or homicide or any other crime. You have to wait until you're instructed to go around or through a crime scene and an officer will direct you so you do not disturb any potential forensic evidence that's there. I mean, that's just the way it is. It's unfortunate, but it's reality.

BLITZER: Chief Ramsey, thanks very, very much for joining us. Max Adler, thanks to you as well.

And still to come, we're going to keep a very close eye on the courthouse in Phoenix, where a former attorney for Donald Trump will be sentence that's happening in a few moments.

Also ahead this hour, the U.S. Defense Department says aid is rolling into Gaza by way of the floating pier built by the U.S. military, but how quickly and how safely can it actually be delivered.

[11:14:45]

Plus, President Biden works to reverse an erosion of support among black voters, especially young black voters. He's set to give a speech very shortly, making your fresh appeal to the key coalition to his election hopes. Stay with us. You're live right here in the CNN Newsroom.

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BLITZER: Today President Biden is looking to shore up support among black voters. They helped put him in the White House back in 2020. And he will need their help once again big time come November. But a new poll has Donald Trump winning more than 20 percent of the black vote in a matchup with President Biden in key battleground states. That's up from just 12 percent nationwide back in 2020 according to a CNN exit poll. And that would be the highest level of black support for any Republican presidential candidate since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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I want to bring in CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz right now. Arlette, this hour in a few minutes we're told the President is getting ready to speak over at the Museum of African American History right here in the nation's Capitol. Tell us what we expect to hear.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President Biden is set to honor a major moment in the civil rights movement when he speaks in just a short while. Today is the 70th anniversary of Brown versus Board of Education, that Supreme Court ruling which ended desegregation in American schools. The President just yesterday met with the plaintiffs of that -- those landmark cases here at the White House with officials saying that he was trying to honor the legacy of the civil rights movement while also talking about what he will do going down the road to help black voters in this country.

A bit later in the afternoon, he's also set to meet with the leaders of the so called Divine Nine. Those are historically black fraternities and sororities. It all comes as the President is trying to make a fresh appeal to court black voters, a group that was a key constituency in helping elected to the White House back in 2020. But polls actually --

BLITZER: Arlette, I'm going to interrupt you for a moment. We're getting a word the Israeli IDF spokesperson or Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has an important announcement to make, I wanted to listen to this.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, SPOKESMAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): They were murdered in a brutal way by Hamas terrorists. And their bodies were taken into the Gaza Strip. Their bodies were taken out of Gaza in a combined effort of IDF and Shin Bet and some special units of two organizations that work together for a long time. This is according to intelligence direction of the intelligence unit, and the absence soldiers unit and many investigations.

The forces have been working professionally and with determination while risking themselves to bring murdered hostages back to be buried in Israel. The bodies that were taken back have been now identified by authorized organizations. The IDF representatives have informed the families. IDF and the Shin Bet are sorry for this difficult time. I call the public please do not spread rumors and keep the security of our forces. Listen to the IDF messages. We will update with transparency, first of all, the families and then the public through the media.

The intensive war in the strip is going on. And our mission to bring the hostages back is the top priority of every commander and soldier. We're putting a lot of intelligent and operational efforts and complicated and risky combat, including at this very time. We will continue with all the tools we have in order to create the conditions, create the conditions to bring the hostages back home as quickly as possible questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Do we know where they were murdered on the 7th of October or later? And also, was there any opposition with the terrorists that were guarding the place where the bodies were found?

HAGARI (through translator): I say it again. Amit, Itzik and Shani, with blessed memories escaped from the Nova festival. They celebrated life in Nova and they escaped when murderous terrorists came there. They came to Mefalsim. And according to confirmed information, they were murdered there brutally by terrorists and their bodies were taken into Gaza. As far as operational action, I'm not going to elaborate on that. This is how we'll continue. I want to say a few words in English.

It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that last night, the Israeli Defense Forces and Israel forces rescued the bodies of our hostages, Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, and Itzhak Gelerenter who were taken hostage during the Hamas massacre on October 7th and murdered and was murdered. They were murdered by Hamas.

[11:25:02]

According to the credible information that we have gathered Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, and Itzhak Gelerenter were murdered by Hamas while escaping the Nova Music Festival on October 7th, and the bodies were taking into Gaza. They were celebrating life in the Nova Music Festival and they were murdered by Hamas. Their bodies were transferred to medical professional for forensic examination and identification.

After the procedure was completed, we notified their families. Our hearts go out to them to the families at this difficult time. We will leave no stone unturned. We will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home. We will not rest until we do.

BLITZER: All right, so there you have it. The Israeli IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, announcing that the IDF has now recovered three bodies of Israelis who were murdered by Hamas at the Nova Music Festival, not far from Gaza, in Israel back on October 7th. And the families have now been notified.

I want to bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us on the ground in Jerusalem, CNN global affairs analyst Barak Ravid is also joining us. And Jeremy, let me start with you. Give us the latest. What do we know specifically about all this development that these three Israeli hostages, the bodies of these three Israeli hostages have been recovered by Israel?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, very sad news indeed, Wolf. The Israeli military spokesman there talking about three hostages whose bodies have now been recovered from Gaza, 23-year-old Shani Louk is one of them, 28-year-old, Amit Buskila and then Itzhak Gelerenter whose age I don't have in front of me, he is the third hostage whose body was recovered from Gaza.

According to Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, the three of them were murdered when they were escaping the Nova Music Festival. He talked about them celebrating life at that festival and saying that they were murdered by Hamas and their bodies taken to Gaza. The families of these hostages were notified before Admiral Hagari made this announcement. Obviously, for some of them, they knew that their loved ones had been had been killed. Shani Louk for example, there was a video of her on October 7th that showed her body in the back of a pickup truck with militants surrounding her, some of them on top of her. Her body was facedown and partially undressed.

It was weeks later that the Israeli government said that they had actually found a remnant of her skull, which, in their minds, according to forensic experts, prove that she was dead that she could not have survived losing that part of her skull. So she has been known to her family to be dead since late October. This now brings the total number of hostages, Wolf, still held in Gaza or, sorry, the total number of hostages who have been announced dead now to 41 hostages.

We know that the bodies of 128 were still being, forgive me, 128 hostages both dead and alive have been held in Gaza. So this takes three away from that. So 125 hostages both alive and dead still remaining in Gaza, 41 have now been announced dead. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes. And more sad news coming on this hostage situation. Barak Ravid, what are you hearing from your sources? You're very well plugged in.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think this operation was conducted as part of a much wider operation of the IDF in the Jabalia refugee camp where the IDF I think it's already third time they returned there. And the bodies were found inside of a tunnel compound that was under the control of Ahmed Ghandour, who was the head of the Hamas northern brigade in Gaza. He was killed earlier in the war.

And several bodies were retrieved in the past from this tunnel complex. And now the soldiers came back to this complex and found those bodies.

BLITZER: I want to get that analysis from retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, who's with me here in the CNN Newsroom. Give us a little sense, apparently the IDF and the Shin Bet, the domestic Israeli intelligence service they went in at near these Hamas tunnels and then they discovered these three bodies. [11:29:55]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Wolf, and that's a fairly normal operation unfortunately in a situation like this where Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence service and the Israeli military will go in.