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Vance Dismisses Suburban Women's Concern on Abortion; Project 2025 Co-Author of Drafts Trump's Second Term Plans; Arrest Made in Connection to Matthew Perry's Death; New Video Shows Russian Soldiers Captured by Ukraine. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 15, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): Women in America want reproductive freedom. They want the ability to make decisions about their future, to make decisions about their bodies, to make decisions about their lives without the interference of politicians like him. And that's what's at stake. And that's what's on the ballot this November. Do women want to turn over their autonomy to people like J. D. Vance or do we want to retain our freedoms? I'm on the side of freedom.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And, Congresswoman, I do want to ask you about some reporting that we had at the top of this program from our Kyung Lah. She obtained footage that was obtained by a non-profit that showed Russ Vought, who was a member of the Trump administration the last time around. Has been talked about as a potential chief of staff. He's caught on video talking about drafting hundreds of private documents to lay the groundwork for a second Trump term.

And in that video, he talks about this proposal that Trump has talked about, the largest deportation in history as they describe it. And he -- and Vought says in this video, once you start that, there's going to be, he says, a debate along the way about what that looks like. And he says, that's going to cause us to get off of multiculturalism. He also goes on to say, are we designed to be a Christian nation or are we allowed to ask about Sharia law?

What do you make of some of those comments and Trump attempting to distance himself from Project 2025 when a key supporter of his, Russ Vought, has been pretty heavily involved in it?

ESCOBAR: The fact is, Jim, Trump's Project 2025 is all about Donald Trump and a potential next term. And every American needs to be fully informed of what's inside that terrifying document and understand that under a Trump-Vance administration, that will mean that every aspect of our lives is controlled, especially if you are a woman in America, but also what it means for our economy and immigration, because those two issues are completely linked together, immigration and the economy.

Donald Trump has talked about a massive deportation operation, something similar to what happened during the Eisenhower administration. I want to remind Americans, especially Latinos that under the Eisenhower administration 60 percent of the people who were deported were U.S. citizens and people who were here legally. Under Trump's Project 2025, they lay out the fact and they make very clear they intend to deport legal immigrants as well.

But this new development and Trump trying to distance himself from it, he cannot distance himself from it. In fact, J. D. Vance wrote the forward. His vice president wrote the forward to the document, and they're trying now to keep a lot of this under the cover of darkness. We have to shine the sunlight on all of their plans. So, not only would it be just an absolute return to a very dark period in American history, but the impact on the economy would be devastating.

In fact, that's part of the reason why 16 Nobel prize winning economists have called Trump's plans on an inflation bomb.

ACOSTA: All right. Congresswoman Escobar, of course, we'll have live coverage of Kamala Harris' economic plan tomorrow. She rolls that out. We'll be covering that and we'll, of course, try to get back to you as soon as we can to discuss all that. Congresswoman Escobar, thanks so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.

ESCOBAR: Thank you. Thanks.

ACOSTA: All right. Just ahead, Google is sounding the alarm about Iran's ongoing and wide-ranging attempts to hack presidential campaigns, targeting dozens of people in both the Trump and Harris campaigns. That's coming up.

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[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Some breaking news here at CNN. Police have made at least one arrest in connection to the death of actor Matthew Perry. That is from the Associated Press, citing a law enforcement source. CNN Correspondent Omar Jimenez joins us now. Omar, this was a concern for weeks now that perhaps there might be some arrests coming, that there might be something going on other than just Matthew Perry dying from an overdose. What have you heard?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, this has been potentially a long time coming here and authorities do plan a news conference later this morning, as we understand from the AP as well. But this goes back to October when he was found dead in his Pacific Palisades home. An autopsy report said he died due to acute effects of ketamine and subsequent drowning as well.

But critically, back in May, the LAPD said that it was conducting a criminal investigation into the source of the ketamine that led to Matthew Perry's death, and when the captain at the time was asked about it, he wouldn't elaborate on the exact nature of it, but did specify that this was criminal in nature.

And so, here we are reporting on an arrest that's been made that's likely tied to that very same investigation that they had been at least announced for months now at this point. And the captain at the time said, hypothetically, there is a potential for criminal culpability, depending on what the investigation covers.

So, it'll be interesting to see if that's what the press conference that, again, authorities are expecting to plan for later this morning puts out the. As I mentioned, this goes back to October as well.

[10:40:00]

And if this does come down to where the source of the ketamine actually came from, as the LAPD said that they were investigating, it would be similar to some other cases where we've seen overdoses or where the sources of the drugs in question have been at the center of criminal investigations with -- if you remember Mac Miller the rapper who died because of an overdose as well. A person pleaded guilty in that case based on the person who supplied the drugs.

And so, this -- while we're still waiting on details, this news is significant as the AP reports and arrest has been made, at least one arrest, I should specify has been made into Matthew Perry's death. It again goes back to October, and maybe we get more answers today.

ACOSTA: Very interesting. Omar, stand by. I want to bring in Joey Jackson, our CNN legal analyst. He joins me now on the phone. Joey, I mean, this story went around the world. People were just shocked over the tragic death of Matthew Perry. And now, it turns out we are going to -- it sounds like we're going to hear about arrests in the case. Maybe one arrest, perhaps more.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST AND CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Jim, not surprising. I think it's a very important responsibility of law enforcement to get at the nature of how someone may have gotten their hands on a substance like this. Was it prescribed? Was it not prescribed? Did a doctor supply it? We don't know. Speculation. Were there friends involved? Were there other associates that might have been involved to get it to him? And so, I think those questions are really unearthed by law enforcement through search warrants.

What law enforcement does, and in this case, sure, no different, is you look at computers, you look at phones, you look at any other types of devices that could have a trail. A trail with respect to who's supplying it? How'd you get it? When did it come into your hands? How are you using it? Was it a non-controlled environment? And so, I think that through the press conference that will -- it'll be revealed, Jim, what particularly those sources were and what the basis for this arrest was. Who was this individual that was arrested? What connection did they have to this? How did they supply him with it? What role did they have in that regard?

And then, of course, we know that could lead to significant criminal culpability, and it may not be just one, it may be several people that were involved. And so, I'll be looking in that press conference for all of those dynamics, and we'll see what specifically investigators and prosecutors released and what they hold back.

ACOSTA: Yes, Omar, I mean, do we know how much information we're going to get about this case because it has been pretty tightly under wraps ever since the death of Matthew Perry and perhaps this is the culmination of an investigation that is going to lead to these arrests, as you mentioned, at least one arrest as you were saying a few moments ago.

JIMENEZ: Yes, that is the major question. I want to jump off of one thing that Joey said as well, is that there's a question, of course, where Matthew Perry would have gotten the ketamine that was in his system. And at the time, he was reported to be receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety, but one thing that the autopsy notes as well, that the last known treatment was a week and a half prior to his death. So, that's well beyond the time it would have still been in his system if we are going for that particular treatment.

So, again, that source of where this actually came from is, we do again from what law enforcement had said previously, that was likely going to be the center of any potential criminal investigation. And so, that will likely be the center of what we find out today. And again, we know at least of one arrest. But the DEA and the Postal Inspection Service had also been involved in the investigative side of things as they typically do for federal law enforcement. They are -- have been especially tight lipped on what their involvement or the range of their involvement was over the course of this.

But if they're involved, that's likely means they're looking outside of the scope of just a particular city jurisdiction. So, we'll see what ends up coming, and if we get new details on that side of things about what federally investigative wise may have come from this.

ACOSTA: Yes. Joey. I mean, just to jump off of what Omar was saying a few moments ago, is it possible based on some of the details that are starting to come out that this actually might be larger than just an investigation into the overdose dose of Matthew Perry? I mean, could this be a little bit bigger than that?

JACKSON: Well, it certainly could be. I mean, anything's possible. But I think what law enforcement does is they would analyze really the sources of where it came from. And that involves, as I noted before, doing search warrants on a person's devices or multiple people devices, that gets you more information. And it come -- then you come to find out, OK, was it distributed? How is it distributed? Who was distributing it? Was it medically? Was it someone else?

[10:45:00]

Because if the federal government's involved, oftentimes they get involved in issues that relate to things like distribution, things like trafficking, that means over state lines, et cetera. And so, it could be a lot more, right, into it, we don't know at this point. But I think they're very concerned about the issue of the overdose, of course, and how it could have led to his death.

Omar spoke before of Mac Miller. You also remember Michael Jackson with Conrad Murray, who happened to be a doctor involved propofol, different issue, different time, 14 years ago. But the reality is that there's a major place for law enforcement to get at the source of and the supply of any substance, who they were supplying it to, whether it involves multiple people, who those people are, where they're getting it from. And sometimes you really -- when you start peeling back the onion, that's how you get to the trafficking, the distribution, and the nature of actually who's supplying it.

ACOSTA: Yes, his autopsy, according to the Associated Press released in December, found that the amount of ketamine in his blood was in the range used for general anesthesia during surgery. That is just very sad to hear those kinds of details. Omar, Joey Jackson, thanks to both of you. If we have more news on this, we'll get back to you as soon as we can. More news when we come back. Stay with us.

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[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: Today, we're getting shocking video out of Russia showing that Kyiv claims is its largest capture of Russian soldiers at one time. It shows the prisoners of war lined up in along the road. This comes as Putin is pulling troops out of Ukraine to shore up defenses at home in an attempt to counter Ukraine's surprise assault.

Ukraine now claims to occupy nearly 400 square miles of Russia. It marks the first-time foreign troops have entered that country since World War II. Joining me now, CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark.

General Clark, I'm sure you've been watching all of this and finding it just as fascinating as Kim and I have been fascinated by this. We were talking about it during the commercial break. What is your sense of what's happening right now? What I read is that Ukraine is not doing this for the purposes of capturing territory, this is basically a defensive operation. What's your sense of it?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: It is a defensive operation in the sense that it will create a buffer zone. It also moves their drone capability deeper into Russia. It also provides potentially bargaining material. And it draws Russian forces away from other efforts elsewhere on this thousand-kilometer front. So, it has multiple purposes. I think the Ukrainians are still trying to advance, so we haven't seen the end of this.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Kim, Ukraine says it is advanced more than 20 miles into Russia, which, I mean, that may not sound like a lot, but that's a lot of land, relatively speaking when you consider the fact that, I mean, nobody tries to invade Russia anymore.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes.

ACOSTA: You said you were -- tell me during the commercial break, you were listening to a conference call with administration officials. What are they picking up on?

DOZIER: Well, they're often being asked, gee, Ukraine has taken all of this territory, but we haven't heard Russian leader Vladimir Putin threaten to use nuclear weapons as he's done in the past. They've heard no such escalatory language, and that sort of takes away the excuse that White House officials had used with Ukrainians over and over and over.

I talked to European officials, Ukrainian officials who say, look, every time we asked to use U.S. weapons inside Russia, we got back this pushback that it might trigger a nuclear response. That hasn't materialized, even with Ukrainian troops taking a large chunk and so far, holding it and putting in the kind of fortifications that make it look like they're going to stay a while.

ACOSTA: Interesting. And, General, here's what a Ukrainian commander had to say about all this. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMYTRO KHOLOD, COMMANDER OF BATTALION "NIGHTINGALE" (through translator): The Russians are now trying to stop our advance. They have pulled in reserves, which has benefited our defense forces in other areas, because it's become easier to work there. We have information that reserves were pulled from the Zaporizhzhia, Crimea, and Kharkiv regions to stop our advance. Of course, it will be harder for us to advance further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. And, General Clark, I mean, this is designed to throw Putin and the Russians off balance, to siphon away forces that the Russians have been using to wreak havoc in the Donbass and so on. And so far, this is working pretty successfully. Do you think we'll see more of this on the part of the Ukrainians?

CLARK: It's hard to say. It depends really on how this plays out. Just to pick up on something Kim said, Jim, it would be really, really important if Britain and the United States authorize the Ukrainians to use the Storm Shadow missiles and the ATACMs in this area for launching and then moving deeper in against Russia.

It's -- we need to bring all the combat multipliers available. The Ukrainians have done a good job with electronic warfare. They've done a great job with drones, but the U.S. is still withholding the longer- range assets on some of these missions. And this is a moment to really leverage the Ukrainians advance not only for what it could do for Ukraine, but what it can do to deter China, which is watching closely American actions.

ACOSTA: Yes. But, Kim, is there a chance that the Ukrainians could overextend themselves here and that this could blow back on them?

[10:55:00]

DOZIER: That's one problem. They did have to take these troops from other parts of the static eastern line where they're dug in against Russia. They're trying to draw those Russian troops away from there to this location. Playing a little bit of whack a mole. But there's a risk that the Russians could encircle them, and they could lose in this situation, but they are also close enough to the border just to melt back, oh, and say, we captured a lot of your territory, and this is what we can do at any time, at any point along your border and future.

ACOSTA: Fascinating development. Probably one of the most fascinating developments in this war. General Clark, Kim Dozier, thank you both very much.

And thank you for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. More breaking news in the next hour. Newsroom with Wolf Blitzer right after a quick break. Stay with us.

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