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Now, Judge Hears Arguments to Dismiss Trump's Classified Documents Case; Elvis' Granddaughter Fights Graceland Foreclosure in Court; Trump Deletes Video Promising Unified Reich if Re-Elected. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 22, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning you are live in the CNN newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Right now, a federal judge is considering whether to dismiss some of the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump in the classified documents case along with his co-defendants. Trump stands accused of retaining those documents or refusing to turn them over after leaving office.

Last night, an unsealed opinion from another federal judge delivered a startling revelation in the case that Trump's attorneys found additional documents in his bedroom four months after the FBI's Mar-a- Lago raid. And take a look at this here, a new footage from the Department of Justice, Trump aide Walt Nauta is seen moving boxes just days before Trump's lawyers searched his Florida residence.

That led Judge Howell to conclude there is, quote, strong evidence that Trump intended to hide boxes from his attorneys. The bid to throw out this case, we should note, comes after the former president scored a big win earlier this month with the Trump-appointed judge who postponed the trial and definitely drawing criticism from many legal experts.

CNN's Evan Perez is outside the courthouse for us down in Florida. Evan, tell us what you know about this hearing.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, you know, one of these times when we come to these hearings by Judge Aileen Cannon, we might get a new trial date. We're, of course, going to be watching to see if that happens. That hearing, the first of two hearings, is now getting underway at the courthouse behind me.

And we have a couple of different requests from the former president and from Walt Nauta, his aide and co-defendant, a couple of things. Nauta is asking for the charges against him, obstruction charges chiefly, to be tossed because he claims that this is a vindictive prosecution by the government.

The former president and all of the defendants, they're asking for a lot of this evidence that the government has in this investigation to be tossed out in the case of the former president. He's saying that the evidence from the FBI search, that extraordinary search that happened at Mar-a-Lago two summers ago, that all of that evidence needs to be tossed, as well as testimony from Evan Corcoran, his former lawyer, who helped oversee the receiving of those subpoenas from the government for those documents to be turned over.

Now, Jim, you know, ahead of this hearing, we saw those new documents, those pictures that, you know, The prosecution says are of Walt not a moving boxes before Evan Corcoran, the former president's attorney, I got a chance to search for those documents. We also saw, according to prosecutors, they said that there was a search that happened four months after the Mar-a-Lago search, and that during that search, there was a found classified documents, including a folder labeled classified evening summary. Four additional documents were found in the in an office there at Mar a Lago.

And now all of this is what explains some of the mystery here behind the scenes, Jim, of why a judge ruled, that Evan Corcoran, the former lawyer for Donald Trump, why he needed to provide testimony. I'll read you just a part of what she says in approving that. She says that the government has proffered sufficient evidence that the former president used person 18, in this case that's Evan Corcoran, as a front man to obstruct the government investigation.

Again, that hearing is now getting underway at the courthouse behind me, and we'll see, Jim, whether we hear more on these two motions that are being made in court today. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. Evan Perez, thank you very much.

And CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson joins me now. He's also a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.

Joey, I mean, this appears to be pretty damning stuff, Trump's own lawyers finding additional documents in his bedroom and these photographs, his aide seen moving boxes days before their search. What do you make of all that?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Jim, good to be with you, without question. Well, as to the aide, Mr. Nauta, the claim by the attorneys for him is that he would have no knowledge or information with respect to the contents of those boxes.

[10:05:03]

Why is that relevant? Because it defeats the notion of knowledge, it defeats the notion of conspiracy. And the attorneys are arguing for Walt Nauta, the valet to the former president, that he shouldn't be prosecuted to the extent that he was not engaged in a conspiracy because he did not know that the boxes that he was following or carrying out on behalf of, or at the behest of, the former president had any classified documents. So, that will be their core argument, right?

And so with regard to Trump's argument, we know that there's been a number of grievances he's brought up about the case and why it should be dismissed. We know also, Jim, that there was an attack as to the constitutionality of the Espionage Act. That ship has sailed. The judge said no. The Espionage Act, which underlies this, is very much constitutional. The matter can go forward.

We know that he tried to get it dismissed on the Presidential Records Act, saying, hey, the president's records are his records, if they're personal. Therefore, he doesn't have to turn over. And so we get to today, which is the issue as to whether or not the seizure and actually the documents being taken, were they predicated on probable cause? Was the warrant appropriate? Was this a selective prosecution? Was it a vindictive prosecution? Should he be shielded by immunity? I think you'll see a number of arguments advanced by the Trump team as to why the indictment should not move forward.

ACOSTA: And, Joey, I wonder if you saw this. Trump is also claiming -- he's making this bogus claim without evidence that President Biden was, quote, locked and loaded to take me out in the Mar-a-Lago raid. This appears to be a reference to the FBI search warrant, which authorized the use of deadly force in situations where officers' lives are at stake. But isn't that a typical provision in search warrants? I mean, what do you make of that?

JACKSON: Yes. So, you know, Jim, I make of it that obviously rhetoric is very important, particularly when you have a bully pulpit like the former president does with regard to people who believe this stuff and actually could act upon it. And that's why we've seen a number of gag orders with regard to his current case in New York and other cases, right, where the president, perhaps, former president, is a little loose with the language.

Just to be clear, to your original point, when you do a search warrant, obviously you in law enforcement, there are measures of protection around you. You do come, the FBI comes with a number of people on positions of authority carrying guns, et cetera. It's not a pleasant experience, but they're there, right, for a show of force to get what the warrant authorizes you to get, and in this case classified documents.

I should also hasten to add that those are documents that, of course, they try to negotiate. That is the government with getting them back. And that's why one of the charges is willfully retaining, right, or some charges relating to willfully retaining documents. They tried. They couldn't. And so as a result, they have to execute a warrant to go and get them in the way that they did.

ACOSTA: All right. Joey Jackson, yes, pointing out, I mean, this is what the FBI does. And, again, I mean, consistent theme through all of Trump's complaints about all of these trials that he's going through, that it's somehow a plot from the current president. There's no evidence to back that up. All right, Joey -- none whatsoever.

Joey Jackson, thanks a lot, as always. I appreciate it.

Also breaking another court case to tell you about the granddaughter of Elvis Presley is inside of Tennessee court right now fighting the foreclosure sale of Graceland. You might not have heard about this, but listen up. Riley Keough is alleging fraud and says the company behind the sale does not even exist.

The historic Memphis estate is reportedly worth hundreds of billions of dollars and is the nation's second most visited home after the White House.

CNN's Isabel Rosales joins us now. Isabel, I mean, people might be focusing in on this and wondering, okay, wait a minute, is it possible that Elvis Presley's family could lose Graceland? And I suppose that is what's at the heart of this case here. That could happen.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jim. Yes, this is a bizarre legal story. The future of Graceland is certainly under the microscope and it could be determined today. As we speak, there is a hearing happening at a chancery court in Shelby County, Tennessee. This is a live feed of it right now. You can see the judge speaking. And it will determine the next steps here, whether the foreclosure auction of Graceland can proceed. That foreclosure sale is scheduled for tomorrow.

So, we have Riley Keough, she is the granddaughter of Elvis and the legal heir to this property after her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, passed back in January of 2023. She filed a restraining order to fight for the property through a lawsuit that she has also filed. It states that the company behind this foreclosure sale, Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC, produced documents claiming that they wrote a $3.8 million loan to Lisa Marie Presley and that she used Graceland as collateral for that loan, but then she failed to pay back that loan. She defaulted and therefore Graceland belongs to them.

[10:10:04]

Well, Keough is saying this is absolutely wrong, that the documents here are fake, that her mother never borrowed that money, she never used Graceland as collateral, and that Naussany appears to be a fake entity, that this is all part of a scheme to defraud the family.

And it also, the lawsuit points to a notary out to Florida that was all over the paperwork here, the loan paperwork. Well, that notary signed an affidavit saying she never met Lisa Marie Presley and she never notarized any documents for her.

Now, CNN has reached out to that company. We tried by phone. That line was disconnected. We tried by email. We got an automatic response to that. And that entity appears to be from Missouri. Well, we reached out to the secretary of state's office. We couldn't find that company.

ACOSTA: You couldn't find the company? And so I mean, does that kind of bolster the argument that Riley is saying here that they don't know what this company is? What's going on here?

ROSALES: Right. They're going to have to prove this in court, but certainly a lot of red flags are seemingly popping up here, especially that Florida notary saying that, yes, my signature is on here. I never met Lisa Marie Presley. A lot of things will be popping up in court. ACOSTA: All right. Isabel Rosales, thank you very much. A fascinating case, we're going to keep talking about it here.

Let's bring in the mayor of Memphis, Paul Young. Mr. Mayor, thanks for joining us.

What is your reaction to this potential sale of Graceland? And what is your response to what the King's family is saying about all of this? Elvis's family is saying this is not right what's happening here?

MAYOR PAUL YOUNG, (D-MEMPHIS, TN): Well, certainly we're going to let the court process play out, but we hope that it stays with the family. Graceland means so much to our community. It does so much for our economy. We attract over 600,000 visitors each year to this city as a result of Graceland. And so we'll let the process play out. But we're certainly hopeful that the family maintains ownership and keep that great amenity going for our community.

ACOSTA: And have you been in touch with the family about this?

YOUNG: I haven't spoken to the family directly, but I have spoken with the management team. And they feel confident that the family will maintain ownership. And so, you know, we want to make sure that we maintain this amazing attraction for Memphis, because so many people know Memphis as a result of Elvis Presley, and we want to make sure that that legacy remains strong.

ACOSTA: Yes, I've been out to Graceland before. I mean, it's an amazing historical site. What would that mean for the city of Memphis if it's somehow got sold off?

YOUNG: I don't even like to think like that. I think we're going to we're going to focus on the family maintaining it. Memphis is an amazing city with so many historical assets and music is in our DNA. And we want Elvis to forever be a part of our story.

ACOSTA: All right, very good. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for joining us. We're going to keep our eyes on that live hearing that's taking place right now. We know you will as well. Mayor Young, thanks very much for your time this morning. I appreciate it.

YOUNG: Thank you so much.

ACOSTA: All right. Still ahead, Donald Trump posting and then removing a video with a disturbing reference to Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Plus, a powerful tornado flattens a small town in Iowa. We will tell you about that as well.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in the furnace room and then I heard like a train, a train and then insulation came from the basement, one of the basement windows and came in and I heard it and I knew it was getting -- (END VIDEO CLIP)

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ACOSTA: Quote, he's using Hitler's language, end quote. That's how President Biden responded to a now deleted video posted by former President Donald Trump that referenced a, quote, unified Reich if he wins re election.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump wins. What's next for America?

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ACOSTA: There you can see it right there highlighted on your screen. The word Reich, of course, is most often associated with Nazi Germany. Not many other associations out there. Trump's campaign claims it did not create the video and is blaming an oblivious staffer for posting it while Trump was in court.

But the former president's flirtation with Nazi rhetoric is nothing new. He's defended and dined with white nationalists at Mar-a-Lago. He's told confidants that Hitler quote, did some good things. And he's used incendiary language to dehumanize political opponents and immigrants, even suggesting, as Adolf Hitler did, that they're, quote, poisoning the blood of our country.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done.

Country-changing, country-threatening, and they're country-wrecking.

They're not humans. They're not humans. They're animals. I'll use the word animal, because that's what they are.

We don't want them coming into our country with contagious diseases, and they have it.

We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.

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ACOSTA: Animals, diseases, and vermin, words you wouldn't probably use to describe a human being. That's not language that echoes Adolf Hitler's rhetoric. That is Adolf Hitler's rhetoric, poison or toxin, animals or rats, diseases or viruses, vermin or cockroaches. Where's the difference? The truth is there isn't one.

And when confronted with that reality, Trump, he feigns ignorance, claiming he didn't know Hitler used those words. Well, now he knows. [10:20:00]

And regardless, he continues to parrot that language today. That's an alarming choice for a man who has often struggled to unequivocally denounce white supremacists. You'll recall these moments.

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TRUMP: Who would you like me to condemn?

CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST: Proud boys --

TRUMP: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.

REPORTER: They showed up in Starlet's Village to protest.

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. They didn't even (INAUDIBLE). And you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Those words have power, they have meaning, and when Donald Trump speaks, the world listens. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists certainly listen. So, why can't he denounce them? Why can't he reject their support? Why does he continue to use rhetoric with dark, historical parallels?

Let's discuss with Senior Political Commentator, former Republican Congressman from Illinois Adam Kinzinger. Adam, I guess, what's your reaction to all of this? I guess I saw You reacted on X, formerly known as Twitter, where a lot of these right wing white supremacist folks sort of mill around and gobble up Trump's rhetoric. And I guess one of the questions that stands out to me is why did it take so long for Trump to take it down?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Jim, that was the first time I've ever tweeted an F bomb on Twitter. And I don't do that lightly, but there was no other way to express the outrage I felt. And let me just say to my fellow Christians out there, if you somehow can defend this, then you haven't read or follow the same Jesus I follow. I'm just saying that.

Now, why did it take so long? It's obvious. So, what Donald Trump does, now is Donald Trump really you know, a goose-stepping Nazi? Probably not, right? I don't think he is, but he always does the old -- you know this, you covered him for four years. He does the old kind of wink and nod, like the old, oh, I'm not really with them. But, you know, hey, guys, right? I'm kind of with you. Like I'm not with the Nazis, but if the Nazis are with me, that's okay. And that's what he does, the whole stand back and stand by with the Proud Boys.

Look, if you want -- he would come on and say, well, I actually denounced him. I told him to stand back. Yes, okay. But then the Proud Boys -- I remember actually, I was in Vegas, not that long after he said that, and I saw some proud boys with a shirt that said, stand back and stand by. That's what he does. He signals anybody is welcome. It is the superpower of a cult to always forget and always welcome.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, these aren't dog whistles anymore. And Trump has also made anti-Semitic comments about Jewish Democrats who vote for Joe Biden. And here's what he said outside of court just yesterday. We should note, he has said this a number of other ways at other moments, but here he said it yesterday as well. Let's look. Let's listen.

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TRUMP: Jewish people that go for Biden and the Democrats, they should have their head examined.

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ACOSTA: Your reaction to that?

KINZINGER: I mean, it's just, it's more of the same. And actually, this is kind of something I had heard a lot in the Republican Party, which is, we don't understand how Jewish people can vote for Democrats because of Israel. It's like really putting on the Jewish folks that they're basically just one dimensional voters. Like, you know, they care about a lot of things, and quite honestly, I'm not sure really where Trump is on Israel anymore.

But, yes, I mean, this is just -- again, I like to play the game of if Biden did this, okay? What if Biden would have said anything about how Jews should be voting? What if Biden would have said, stand back and stand by? What if Biden would have put out this, you know, Reich newspaper thing? It would be 24/7 all over a different news channel that you and I know exists, you know, feigning outrage over this.

This is a real issue and you know, it's tough from a media perspective of how do you cover him, because he basically throws so much garbage spaghetti on the wall. You have to kind of pick and choose. But this is what we as a country cannot become numb to. And I'm worried that we're going to become numb to it.

ACOSTA: And it leads me to my question about your work on the January 6th committee, Adam, because I mean, we all know that this was an attack on the Capitol, an attack on democracy, but it was carried out by people who absorb this rhetoric that Donald Trump puts out there, people like the Proud Boys, people like the Oath Keepers, and so on.

There was a guy famously photographed that day wearing the Camp Auschwitz T-shirt. There was the guy marching through the Capitol with the Confederate flag. So, you know, it raises the question, why does Trump continue to put this stuff out there? Why are he and his folks putting out videos that say unified Reich in them and leaving them up for almost 24 hours?

KINZINGER: I mean, let's look at it, it's working. I mean, let's take the morals out of it. It's working. I mean, Donald Trump went from, you know, this disgraced stain on our history to the Republican nominee now.

[10:25:03] And probably if the election were today, he would be the next president. I mean, this is working because, again, it's the difficulty of, you know, the coalition of the same, of those on the same right, the center in the left that are trying to defend our democracy. We get exhausted by all this chaos. The forces of chaos feed on it, and they get excited.

So, that's why because it works until we as a country vomit this stuff out, this garbage out, and say this is not who we are as Americans and we inflict that electoral pain on Donald Trump for that he's going to continue. Because, look, there is a small group of Americans, you know, that believe this stuff and he wants their votes.

ACOSTA: And so, Adam, what do you think the right response is to all of this? And what do you think is going on here? Is it amnesia? Is it people purposefully sticking their head in the ground? Is it that the Biden campaign, the president, they aren't responding to this stuff forcefully enough? We saw the president did condemn it. The Biden campaign pounced on it a couple of nights ago. What's the answer in your view?

KINZINGER: Well, look again, none of us that I know of have been even reached out to by the Biden campaign since like January when I was told they'll reach back out after Nikki Haley drops out, not saying that for my ego. I don't care about it, right? But you've got to reach out to those 20 percent of Republicans. Every Democrat I talked to was saying, I don't know what they're doing on that. So, there is a messaging and there is an energy issue on the Democratic side.

On the Republican side, look, what can we do? I mean, you got to look at your heart at some point and say, what kind of a country do I want my kids to grow up in? And is this it, this divided, angry at each other country? And then from a media perspective, you do what you're doing very well and what CNN does very well, which is you've got to just cover it. Like people may get tired of the comments, but you've got to cover it. If people get numb to it, that's not CNN's responsibility but we as a country all have to make that decision. Take the weight of the world off your shoulders. Realize we're one in a million, even though we're also one of a million. And one of a million is people fighting to save this country.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, one way to look at it, Adam, is, I mean, if you were to take the name Trump out of it and insert any other politician's name, posted a video that said, unified Reich, in it, how much coverage would you get? And should that be the same amount of coverage that we give to Donald Trump? And it's just not at this point, because you're right, people are worn down. They want to move on. They don't want to talk about this stuff all the time. Of course you have to. You can't stick your head in the sand.

Adam Kinzinger, thanks very much for your time. I appreciate it.

New today, Ireland, Spain and Norway announced they will formally recognize Palestinian statehood later this month.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Jerusalem. Jeremy, how significant is this? How are the Israelis responding?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, Jim, this is a move that's going to have a lot more symbolic power than actually changing any realities on the ground, but it is one that is drawing outrage from top Israeli officials and one that could result in consequences for the Palestinian Authority. And that's because the Israeli foreign minister today, not only did he recall Israel's ambassadors to those three countries, he also summoned the ambassadors of those countries who were here in Israel to, for a formal reprimand, one, during which he plans on showing them footage from October 7th, and he is vowing serious consequences.

We are getting a taste of what those consequences may be from the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a far right member of Netanyahu's governing coalition. And he is vowing harsh, punitive measures for the Palestinian Authority in response for this move by these three countries to recognize Palestine as a state.

He is seeking the approval of tens of thousands of housing units in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. He wants to establish new settlements in the West Bank in response to this, and he's also calling for the cancelation of crossing permits for Palestinian Authority officials to be able to travel to Israel. He is also saying that he is going to withhold Palestinian tax revenue that is collected by the Israeli government, but that's supposed to go into Palestinian Authority coffers. That is a move that could have very, very serious ramifications for the Palestinian Authority, which is already quite cash-strapped.

Despite all of that, the Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, is calling for additional countries to continue to follow suit. He and other Palestinians believe that these moves of unilateral recognition only bolster the case for a Palestinian state, and he believes it could contribute to a two-state solution down the line. That's obviously a view that this Israeli government, which does not want a two-state solution, very much disagrees with. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Jeremy Diamond, a very important development. We'll keep tabs on it. Jeremy, thanks so much.

Still ahead, all hell broke loose.

[10:30:01]

Passengers are describing what happened the moments their plane hit severe turbulence, leaving one man dead and many others injured.