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Interview With Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) About Donald Trump's Conviction; Top Israeli Officials Push Back On Ceasefire Plan; Historic Vote In Mexico Marred By Political Killings; Trump Vows To Appeal Historic Guilty Verdict; President's Son Set To Stand Trial In Delaware Tomorrow; "D-Day: Why We Fight For Democracy". Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 02, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:40]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington.

We are still six weeks away from learning the sentence for newly convicted felon and former president Donald Trump. But the twice impeached president says he'd be OK with serving prison time. This comes just days after the historic verdict that found Trump guilty on all charges in his criminal hush money trial. This morning in is only interview since he was convicted, Trump warned a harsh sentence could anger his base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: The judge could decide to say, hey, house arrest or even jail.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He could, he could.

HEGSETH: How do you face what that could look like?

TRUMP: I'm OK with it. I saw one of my lawyers the other day on television saying, oh, no, you don't want to do that to the -- I said, don't, you know, beg for anything. You just the way it is. I don't know that the public would stand it, you know. I'm not sure the public would stand for it with a --

HEGSETH: You're saying house arrest or --

TRUMP: I think it would be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point there's a breaking point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Now just days after President Biden reacted to all of this saying that no one is above the law, his own son will stand trial in the Biden's home state of Delaware. That case starting tomorrow. And it is a case with major ramifications for Hunter Biden who could face some real jail time if he's convicted. It could also have some political implications as the president seeks reelection in November.

We are joined now by Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland. He's the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for being here with us this Sunday evening. First, I want to go back to those comments from the former president from this morning where he talked about a breaking point for some of his supporters if he is indeed given jail time or house arrest. I just first want to ask you what make of those comments.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, we've heard those kinds of comments before from Donald Trump and they have led to violence as we saw on January 6th, when nearly 150 police officers were wounded, injured, hospitalized by a mob that Donald Trump had incited an insurrection against the government in order to block the peaceful transfer of power. So obviously we have to take those kinds of threats to the rule of law seriously.

I would call on Mike Johnson and any other Republican leaders out there who I know are following Donald Trump in attacking his verdict, but I would call upon them to denounce and renounce any threats of violence and to say that it is our responsibility as U.S. citizens to stand by the rule of law and not to engage in violence against law enforcement officers, police, judges, prosecutors, and others who are in the criminal justice system. It's intolerable.

DEAN: And we have one of our political analysts Scott Jennings on, a Republican, just in the last hour. And I posed the same question to him. And he pushed back and said, well, but there were no riots on the day of the conviction. There was no violence on the day of the conviction. He's not asking for political violence. What do you say to that argument?

RASKIN: Well, then he should restate his determination that there be no violence and call on any of Donald Trump's supporters to remain nonviolent and peaceful. Donald Trump has had every right of his respected the right to presumption of innocence, the right to testify at trial, which he didn't do. He declares his innocence right now, but he was not willing to get up on the stand and to explain why he was innocent.

That was his decision, but for him to go back on it now and somehow to say he was foreclosed the possibility of testifying is ridiculous, or saying he couldn't speak. That's absurd. He had every right respected and due process and the presumption of innocence. But 12 jurors found him guilty of those offenses.

And Donald Trump as president had no problem presiding over Department of Justice that put lots and lots of U.S. citizens in jail and in prison for nonviolent offenses like drug offenses, like perjury and so on, and so I don't see why there should be a different standard for him.

DEAN: Do you support jail time for the former president?

[19:05:01]

And if you do think that that's what he ultimately happens for him, what effect do you think that has on the American psyche of having a former president going to jail?

RASKIN: I am neither for it nor against it. I'm just for the rule of law operating the judge in the case has been scrupulously fair to the defense and has respect both the rights of the defendant and also the rule of law. And I'm just four, you know, that process working its way through. Obviously, there are arguments on behalf of no jail time because it's a first criminal offense. It is a non-violent offense.

On the other hand, you know, you have a defendant who engaged in serious crimes against the election process and continues to levy threats against the rule of law. And so, you know, I trust it to the court system and the rule of law to figure those things out. It's not about having the election. It's about allowing the court system to operate.

DEAN: And some people said this was the right verdict, the wrong case. They wanted to see the January 6th case go forward before the election, which looks highly unlikely now. I know you said on the select committee, the January 6th Committee, you listened to that testimony. You were there for those presentations.

How fair do you think it is to the American people that that trial will not happen -- likely will not happen before this election?

RASKIN: Well, first of all, there's no mystery about what happened. Anyone who followed the activities in the report of the January 6th Select Committee understand exactly what happened also, Donald Trump was impeached each by the House of Representatives in a vote of 230 to 197, a bipartisan vote for inciting an insurrection. And then there was a 57-43 vote in the Senate to convict him.

That was not enough to get to the two thirds, but you have commanding bipartisan majorities in both the house and Senate who find that he obviously did engage in insurrection against the union.

You know, I think that it's too bad that the Supreme Court decided to take up the near farcical claim that a president is somehow above the law and immune to prosecution when that has not been in the understanding of our country for more than two centuries. The D.C. Circuit Court opinion, which was a bipartisan opinion written by judges appointed both by Democrats and Republicans, was magisterial and authoritative on that point.

And the Supreme Court really doesn't have anything to add other than months and months of delay in this process. So that is unfortunate, but I think the country can see that this is a president who -- or former president who exhibits spectacular disrespect for the rule of law, for the justice system, and is essentially incorrigible and personal behavior. It's shocking to me that you have, you know, the remnants of a once great political party gathered around this cult of personality, a convicted felon.

That's a party that doesn't even want to allow convicted felons who've done good time, who've finished probation and parole, to vote. You know, they're opposing the right of people to vote and they want this convicted felon to be able to run for president the United States, and they're supporting him to try to restore him to power, you know, after he has pardoned a whole bunch of political criminals like Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Dinesh D'Souza, you name it.

And he's going around the country promising to pardon the January 6th hostages as he calls them, or political prisoners, the people who were the violent shock troops of his insurrection against the government. So it's a dangerous situation that we're in as a society right now.

DEAN: Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken out about Trump's conviction. I think you mentioned that. He said he wants to hold oversight hearings on this. I'll play a clip of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We are the rule of law party. Chaos is not a conservative value. And we have to fight back and we will with everything in our arsenal, but we do that within the confines of the rule of law. We believe in our institutions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And he's also called on the Supreme Court to step in here, into this appeals process. But he's calling the Trump trial a weaponization of the government, while also saying that they want to be the party of law and order how do you think that all squares?

RASKIN: It's too little too late. He's obviously scrambling because the country understands how he and his party have embraced the chaos and the criminality and the delinquency of Donald Trump. I mean, he's a one-man crime wave. And they've thrown himself complete -- thrown themselves completely into his camp.

[19:10:03]

And so for them now to claim the mantle of the rule of law is just comical after what happened on January 6th, and how they continue to play into the big lie. We had 60 federal and state court decisions rejecting every claim of electoral corruption or fraud that they were raising. It was Donald Trump who is trying to promote electoral corruption and fraud. And all of his claims about what took place were repudiated and rejected in court.

And yet they continue to maintain this nonsense that somehow Donald Trump won an election that he lost by more than seven million votes to Joe Biden and, you know, we're not going to be able to run a constitutional democracy based on lies and based on fraud. And so we have to declare what the truth is. Joe Biden won the election in 2020 and Donald Trump has just been convicted by a jury of his peers.

And so what they're attacking now is the jury system, the 12 jurors who sat impartially over that trial, took in all of the evidence and voted to convict. Now Donald Trump as a criminal convict still has the right to appeal and he should have every right to take that up to the system. But just like he had a right to testify, which he decided not to use, he's got a right to appeal and we should respect whatever comes out of the appellate process. But in the meantime, Mike Johnson and his party should call off all

the attacks on the rule of law if they don't want to be seen as the party of criminals and it's Donald Trump, of course, who brought a bunch of people who are involved in crime up to his rally in Brooklyn the other day and he's been pardoning a whole bunch of political criminals and now he is threatening to pardon the people who waged violence against our police officers on January 6th, 2021.

DEAN: Before I let you go, I do want to ask you about the Israel-Hamas war and what the Biden administration is doing, what President Biden said on Friday. We heard from the National Security spokesman, John Kirby, he downplayed some of the negative reaction that we've heard from Israel around the truce plan that's laid out. I think we have that clip. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team, in fact his foreign minister, again, just said that they welcome this announcement by the president and that they did in fact agree that this was their proposal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And Congressman, to be clear, we are now awaiting Hamas' response to this proposal that President Biden said Israel crafted. What is your take on all of this? Do you think the Biden administration and the president did the right thing by coming out on Friday and announcing this in the way that he did?

RASKIN: Absolutely. We need to get the hostages back. They've been gone for eight months and we've got to get the Israeli and American hostages back with their families as quickly as possible. This atrocity has gone on for way too long, and it has become a living hell in Gaza from the war. And so we are totally behind the Biden administration's offensive to get the hostages back to declare a six- week ceasefire within which time the parties will be able to consult and negotiate for a permanent ceasefire and a cessation of military hostilities, and we hope movement towards a two-state solution which will be the only the way to get us out of these repeat cycles of terrorism and war that have been such a nightmare for the people in the region.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Jamie Raskin, we really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

RASKIN: You bet.

DEAN: And as we just mentioned, the White House is pushing Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal proposed by Israel. But top Israeli officials, some of them are pushing back on the plan.

Ahead, we're going to talk with a top Israel insider about the divisions within Israel's own government.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:33]

DEAN: The Maldives government announcing it will ban Israelis from entering the island after the country's president last week condemned an Israeli airstrike that hit a refugee camp in Rafah. In response Israel's foreign affairs minister is telling citizens to avoid traveling there and urging those already in the country to leave. And it comes amid rising tensions over a potential peace plan between Israel and Hamas with Israel's defense minister today warning the country will not accept any deal that allows Hamas to rule over Gaza.

His comments echoing those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pushed back on the plan laid out by President Biden on Friday.

Joining us now CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid. He's also the politics and foreign policy reporter for Axios.

Barak, great to have you on, on this Sunday evening. First, let's just start with this deal that the president pushed Hamas to accept on Friday saying that it was an Israeli proposal. But there is an interesting push and pull internally in Israel because Benjamin Netanyahu is presiding over this government. If he accepts anything too far to the left, the right is going to abandon him and vice versa.

So help people understand the dynamics at play and why there's an Israeli proposal on the table that's also getting some pushback publicly from some people in power in Israel as well.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, Jessica, right. It's complicated, as Israeli politics is. And let's try and unpack this thing first.

[19:20:05]

President Biden was right when he said that the plan that he laid out id not his plan. It's the plan of the Israeli government. It was approved by the Israeli war cabinet, by Prime Minister Netanyahu himself, and it was presented already to Hamas by the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, meaning when Biden spoke Hamas already knew what the Israeli proposal is. But inside the Israeli government, only the war cabinet approved it, which is a group of five ministers, meaning all the other ministers did not know it existed until President Biden laid it out in a speech.

And some of the ministers who were not in the loop are the more radical right ministers, ultra-nationalists like Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, and when they heard President Biden speak, they came out against this plan. And now the main question will be, A, whether Hamas says yes, we want to take this. This is the -- I mean that's the most basic point. And if it does say that, does Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to go forward with his own proposal and take it through and, you know, implement this deal? DEAN: Exactly. And the president and the White House trying to force

some sort of resolution here to come out and say this on Friday afternoon, really trying to push Netanyahu, but also push Hamas and put a lot of pressure on them as well.

RAVID: Yes, I think what President Biden want to do is first for the whole world to know what the Israeli proposal is, meaning what is on the table now for more or less, you know, ending this war. And he wanted both the, you know, people of Gaza to know what's on the table and the Israeli people to know what's on the table. And now both sides, both Hamas and Netanyahu need to make decisions.

First, Hamas needs to say whether it's ready to engage on this proposal, to basically say yes, and then if it does, Netanyahu will have to pass this thing through his cabinet which could result in the collapse of his own coalition.

DEAN: Right. And so you have been reporting on this war since it began. You have talked to a lot of people as this has been unfolding. We've been through many iterations of peace talks and trying to get to an agreement. Do you get the sense today from talking to your sources that this is -- this one has a better chance than the ones that have come in the last several months or is this more of the same?

RAVID: I don't know if it has a better chance, but I do know this. If this proposal is not accepted, there will not be another one, meaning I think and it's clear to the Biden administration and it's clear to Egypt and Qatar, the mediators, and I hope it's clear to Hamas that the Israeli negotiation team and the Israeli war cabinet exhausted their maneuvering space, meaning they will not be a more forward- leaning proposal that the one they got.

And if Hamas says no to this, I think the whole issue of a hostage deal and a ceasefire will be off the table for a very long time, and this war will likely escalate. This is what's at stake right now. There is not going to be, according to what I hear from the most senior Israeli officials dealing with this. There will not be a better proposal.

DEAN: Right, and as the president said, and the administration has said they are concerned to echo what you're hearing that the window is closing.

All right. Barak Ravid, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

RAVID: Thank.

DEAN: Polls in Mexico are expected to close soon in what could be an historic election there. At stake the presidency and 20,000 additional positions across the country. With two women leading the presidential race we could see Mexico's first female president, but the elections have been marked by murder. Dozens of assassinations of local candidates.

CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest just now on how dangerous these elections have been. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happened in broad daylight. A mayoral candidate in Mexico shot in the head on the last day of campaigning.

ANA MARIA SALAZAR, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: He was killed in front of all his followers, and he had 10 people who were supposed to be providing him security because he had been threatened.

ROMO: The murder is the latest example of a wave of political violence in Mexico as voters get ready to go to the polls on Sunday. In early April, another mayoral candidate in the city of Celaya was gunned down, one of more than 20 political killings in September according to the Mexican government. By some estimates, that number is even higher, at least 34 candidates murdered, according to Mexican consultancy firm Integralia.

[19:25:07]

SALAZAR: One of the most violent and deadly elections in Mexican history.

ROMO: Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Ana Maria Salazar says organized crime is at the root of most political violence in Mexico.

SALAZAR: Well, they're controlling the economy, the former economy of these -- of these municipalities. So they're hostages. And this is clearly being reflected during this electoral process, where they're trying to also control who's going to be elected.

ROMO: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged in early May that there have been more murders than in previous administrations. But he also said that other crimes like robberies and kidnappings are down.

CARLOS RAMIREZ, POLITICAL RISK CONSULTANT, INTEGRALIA: It's a multidimensional problem, which Lopez Obrador hasn't tackled.

ROMO: But political risk consultant Carlos Ramirez says the president's policy of spending on social programs in the hopes of improving the security situation has failed.

RAMIREZ: Yes, Lopez Obrador cherishes that some of the criminal numbers have been going down, but really they have been going down marginally and others have been going up very quickly as extortion, for example.

ROMO: There are nearly 99 million Mexican voters who are eligible to participate in this election. Mexican officials say there will be around 170,000 polling places around the nation. But security analysts say many voters may choose to stay away because in some areas exercising one's right to vote is not safe. (Voice-over): The threat of political violence is personal for Jesus Corona. The mayoral candidate in the central Mexican city of Cuautla survived an assassination attempt earlier this year when two men on a motorcycle sped past and opened fire.

They want me to drop out of the campaign, he said. They don't want me to participate. They want to continue with this corrupt government.

The risk of violence is also faced by those tied to the candidates, including relatives and aides. According to Integralia, more than 700 people have been threatened, kidnapped, extorted or murdered, among other crimes, since campaigns started in September.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Rafael, thank you.

Former president Trump's lawyers insist they plan to appeal his historic conviction. But what legal grounds do they have? We'll take a look at his options ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:00]

DEAN: As Donald Trump awaits his sentence on 34 felony counts, the former president continues to rage against the proceedings, calling the judge in the case, "a devil" and attacking witnesses in his prosecution.

It is the same, judge, Juan Merchan, who will oversee Trump's sentencing and plans to appeal. Despite his clients tirades, his lead attorney in the case is optimistic that their appeal will succeed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: You've said a few of your arguments on the appeal. When do you plan to file your appeal?

TODD BLANCHE, DONALD TRUMP ATTORNEY: Well, there is a lot of -- look, this is one step in the process, right? So we have motions due in a couple of weeks in front of Judge Merchan, which were going to vigorously fight and restate a lot of what I am saying to you tonight and other things that happened in the trial that we think just made the trial unfair and including the testimony of Miss Daniels.

If that is not successful, then as soon as we can appeal, we will, And the process in New York is there is a sentencing and then we appeal from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: David Oscar Markus is a criminal defense attorney. He joins us now from Miami. David, great to have you on.

I understand you just interviewed Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche who we just saw in that clip with Kaitlan Collins, on your podcasts "For the Defense," and one of the topics you discussed was the defense team's trial strategy, whether it was the right one.

We will listen to part of your interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: Our trial strategy, maybe enough people told me that I screwed up, that I will change my mind, but it was the right one. Right? Which is that Michael Cohen -- there were a lot of corroboration around Michael Cohen that included witnesses who were never called, right? Allen Weisselberg and Dylan Howard and folks that were part of conversations that the government was talking about repeatedly, but they didn't call the witnesses.

And you know, I think that that was the right strategy. It is tough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So David, what do you think? How was their strategy?

DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, listen, every criminal defense lawyer will tell you they would do it their own way. It is not like a doctor, you know, you go in with a broken arm, every doctor treats the broken arm the same way.

Every criminal defense lawyer would try it his own or her own way and it is easy to criticize when you're not the one doing it.

Todd is a good guy. He gave everything to this case and I feel for him, you know, I have spoken about criminal defense lawyers when they're in trial, there are so few trials left, and so he gave everything he had to the case and it didn't turn out his way.

DEAN: And I also want to ask you about the attacks that we are seeing on American institutions. There have been attacks by the former president that the election is rigged, that our democratic process is in question. And now complaints about the judicial system.

You're an officer of the court. You participate in the judicial system. How did those attacks land with you? And how do you think they affect the broader criminal justice system and how people feel toward it in this country?

[19:35:02]

MARKUS: It is very troubling to see the attacks on the judicial system because it is the one institution that sort of a check on the executive on the legislature.

So it is an important institution and its troublesome to see it now. You know, Trump is not the ordinary defendant, of course. So he has got all kinds of other considerations. He is running for office, of course.

So it is interesting to see how the judge is going to deal with it. I am not sure the gag order applies anymore. The gag order was there to protect witnesses. It is there to protect the trial.

The trial is over. There are no more witnesses, so I am not sure the gag order is in effect right now.

DEAN: And so just more broadly, after this interview and after kind of taking in all of this information, what do you make of Trump's attorneys case? Their appeal case? And how good of a chance do you think they have? What do you think is their best argument here?

MARKUS: Yes, we criminal defense lawyers know how hard it is to win at trial. It is even harder to win on appeal. It is really, really difficult to get a case overturned, although we see it happen, right? In New York, it recently happened with Harvey Weinstein. No one thought his case would get overturned and it did. There were just lots of errors in the case.

And Trump's lawyers are trumpeting lots of errors in his case. I'd like to underscore one thing, Jessica, the timing. So you don't get to appeal it until after the sentencing and then it takes about a year to work its way through the New York system.

I know people are saying, well, what about going straight to the United States Supreme Court? You cannot go to the United States Supreme Court until you've gotten all the way through the New York system.

So you're talking about at least a year before the New York appeal is done and then trying to go to the Supreme Court. So we've got a long road ahead on just this New York appeal, let alone all the other cases.

DEAN: And we are hearing from the former president. He has gone personally after the judge, which, he did not violate the gag order in doing that, that was allowed. But since the conviction, we have seen him really double down.

He has called the judge, Judge Merchan, a devil. Judge Merchan is going to have -- he will preside over the sentencing phase. If you're his attorney, are you counseling him against doing that? Does that help him in any way? It doesn't seem like it would.

MARKUS: No, of course, it is not going to help him in. And the defense lawyers, I am sure are not happy with him speaking about the judge like this in advance of sentencing.

But remember, he is running for office, so he is going to do all of these things to raise money to try to get votes and he is sort of not caring about how it is going to affect the sentencing.

I am a bit surprised at some of my progressive friends who are saying, they think he should go to jail. Remember, he is a first-time offender, a non-violent offender. He is an old offender. And this is the least serious felony you could be convicted of in New York.

So I am surprised people are saying he is going to go to jail on this because in any other case of course, the defendant would not.

DEAN: And so, what do you think about jail time? Do you think that's a possibility for him here?

MARKUS: I think it is a possibility because of how outspoken he is about the judge and the judicial system and because of the gag order violations early in the case. I do think it is a possibility.

At the end of the day, I think the judge will not do it. And so I think he will sentence into something else and I think he will suspend that sentence until after the election.

So if Trump wins, I don't think he will be doing community service like we've been hearing or anything like that until after.

DEAN: And you had a chance to represent the former president in a separate case. You turned that down. Do you feel like that was the right choice?

MARKUS: I did. I do, for me and my family was the right choice.

Listen, it is hard as a criminal defense or to watch and not say, man, I wish I was on that huge stage and doing my thing and part of me, of course, would have loved to have done that. But for me and my family, it was the right thing to do.

DEAN: Before I let you go, I do want to talk about the next trial that we are turning our attention to, President Biden's son, Hunter Biden will go to trial on felony gun charges in Delaware tomorrow. It could carry jail time.

What are you expecting from that trial?

MARKUS: Well, this is going to be a pretty short trial. It is not going to be like the New York trial, which lasted a long time. The charges here are pretty straightforward and simple and you know, we are seeing now lots of these kinds of charges.

Trump charges, Biden charges -- I mean, I am not sure that this is all good that were going to be having all of these sorts of cases going forward.

The Biden case also seems like a case that would not have been charged if his last name wasn't Biden. So I am a little surprised of that, but it is the system we have now.

DEAN: All right, David Oscar Markus, always lovely to have you on. Thanks so much for making time. We appreciate it.

MARKUS: Thank you so much.

DEAN: We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:44:41]

DEAN: Another historic trial in the middle of a major election campaign. President Biden's son, Hunter, will stand trial in the family's home state of Delaware that starts tomorrow, and the charges surround the purchase of a gun, a process during which a Hunter Biden allegedly lied on a federal form about his drug use.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE SENIOR REPORTER (voice over): The son of the sitting president on trial in another criminal case with big political implications.

[19:45:10]

HUNTER BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S SON: They have ridiculed my struggle with addiction.

POLANTZ (voice over): Hunter Bidens' addiction and purchase of a gun in October 2018 is at the heart of this case.

The Justice Department accusing him of lying on gun purchasing forms that required him to attest he wasn't addicted to drugs.

A special counsel brought the case last year after a prior deal fell apart in dramatic fashion at his plea hearing.

MERRICK GARLAND, US ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am here today to announce the appointment of David Weiss as a special counsel.

POLANTZ (voice over): On Monday, jury selection begins, potentially a challenging task in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

Federal prosecutors plan to highlight a part of his memoir where he writes about struggling with drug addiction around the time he bought the gun.

HUNTER BIDEN: "I had returned that fall of 2018 after my most recent relapse in California with the hope of getting clean through new therapy and reconciling with Hallie, neither happened.

POLANTZ (voice over): And they have evidence from the week of the gun purchase, Hunter Biden texting he was waiting for a dealer and sleeping on a car, smoking crack.

The trial also may feature testimony from the women in Hunter Biden's life, his ex-wife, his brother's widow, and a woman he pays child support to. Prosecutors say the women witnessed his drug addiction.

While Joe Biden continues to seek re-election, the president has avoided commenting directly on the prosecution of his son.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very proud of my son.

POLANTZ (voice over): Yet the trial is likely to dredge up more Republican attacks on the Bidens, including about a laptop containing embarrassing messages and images that prosecutors have obtained.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): The Biden crime family sold out America and the American people have had enough.

POLANTZ (voice over): Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden's business dealings as part of an impeachment probe of President Biden that's come up short.

HUNTER BIDEN: MAGA Republicans have impugned my character, invaded my privacy, attacked my wife, my children, my family, and my friends.

POLANTZ (voice over): After his trial on felony gun charges ends, Hunter Biden is set to face a second one in federal court in California on tax charges.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POLANTZ (on camera): Now, Hunter Biden's defense team at the gun trial, they are likely going to try to sow doubt around whether he believed he was an addict and about how the special counsel conducted parts of its investigation. He has denied all wrongdoing in both of the cases he faces.

Back to you.

DEAN: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much.

More when we come back. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:12]

DEAN: A fast-moving wildfire in Northern California, torching more than 14,000 acres so far, forcing a lot of people to evacuate.

The Corral Fire started Saturday afternoon in San Joaquin County. A battalion chief telling CNN, firefighters now have it about 30 percent contain. They got help today from some lighter winds and lower temperatures.

Officials say two firefighters were hurt battling the fire. They're now in stable condition. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This Thursday marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day when the US and its allies launched the largest ever seaborne invasion attacking Western Europe. Their goal: To free France, defeat Germany, and restore democracy to Europe.

That fight for democracy is still being waged on the continent today. And as part of Jake Tapper's new documentary, "D-Day: Why We Still Fight for Democracy."

Here is Jake with a preview.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Jessica. Thursday is the anniversary of D-Day, the day the allies attacked Normandy, a fight which eventually help restore democracy to Europe.

And while the battle of Normandy ended 80 years ago, the fight for democracy is still happening around the globe in places such as Ukraine, which is why we produced "D-Day: Why We Still Fight for Democracy."

Here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You are a retired general when the intel started coming in that Putin was going to send Russian forces in to invade and attack Ukraine. What were you thinking when you started hearing it?

GEN. JOHN KELLY (RET) FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF-OF-STAFF: Well, my sense was, we didn't stop him on the carcasses. He kind of did what he wanted and so the next step for a guy like him is attack someone else.

TAPPER: It sounds a lot like Hitler in terms of their never being satisfied with acquiring land.

KELLY: He is not necessarily trying to reestablish the old Soviet Union, but certainly the old Russian Empire. You know, pray, pray, pray that he never crosses that line, but you never know with a guy like Putin. If he thinks he can get away with it, just like the dictator of North Korea, if those kind of people think they can get away with it, they'll go.

TAPPER (voice over): For some D-Day veterans, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has disturbing echoes of the German occupation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is history all over again. I am so dang let down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putin is just like Hitler. You tell a big lie and you tell it often enough, people get to believe you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The threat he poses is real. He is a creature straight out of Dostoevsky.

TAPPER (on camera): Can Putin be contained?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely, Putin can be contained. So long as the democracies stay tightly linked. I would just point out though, right now, you're watching China and North Korea and Iran stand with Russia. Those are the allies that Putin has.

The question is, will the western allies stand with Ukraine? And if the pro-Putin caucus in the US Congress has their way, then of course, we wouldn't. [19:55:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bill is passed.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saw 75 percent of the Congress vote for aid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: "D-Day: Why We Still Fight for Democracy" airs tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern on "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper.

Jessica, back to you.

DEAN: All right, Jake Tapper, we look forward to it. Thanks so much.

Thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. We will see you again next weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)