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New Report Criticizes FBI's Handling of Child Sex Abuse Cases; Army Rebukes Trump Staff Over Arlington National Cemetery Incident. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 29, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:52]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Good morning. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Phil Mattingly in Washington. Jim Acosta is off.

And we begin with the breaking news, just moments ago, the U.S. Army putting out a statement rebuking the Trump campaign over the incident at Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is live at the Pentagon.

Oren, tell people what we're learning right now.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Phil, the Army statement doesn't explicitly mention the Trump campaign or former President Donald Trump, but it does talk about the August 26 ceremony, so it's clear here what they're referring to.

In a statement from an Army spokesperson, the Army points out that there are 3,000 public ceremonies a year that are conducted without incident. That's obviously not the case of what happened here. The Army says that the Trump campaign was made aware of the relevant federal laws, Army regulations and DOD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.

They go on to say an Arlington National Cemetery employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Not to upset decorum, that employee then steps aside and allowed this to continue. A report was filed, but because that employee decided not to press charges, the Army considers the matter closed.

That's not it here. First, the relevant bit of federal law that prohibits this, and I will point that out. This is under conduct of memorial services and ceremonies. Federal law explicitly states: "Memorial services and ceremonies at Army national military cemeteries will not include partisan political activities."

The Army goes on to say in this statement: "This incident was unfortunate, and it's also unfortunate that the Arlington National Cemetery employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC," Arlington National Cemetery, "is a national shrine to the honored dead of the armed forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation's fallen deserve."

Neither the Army nor Arlington National Cemetery have named the employee in question here that's at the center of this incident, but a member of the Trump campaign said that this employee was a -- quote -- "despicable individual," so the Army making sure to defend the conduct and the character of the individual who took part in this incident.

MATTINGLY: Oren, just to expand on a little bit what you're saying, what people were seeing on the screen right there were two pieces of this, and these are the two critical pieces, which was when the former president was laying three wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, there was press there. There were cameras there.

That is a place where, to Oren's point, it is legal. It's not against federal law to be filmed. We're showing that right there. Where the issue is and where it is quite literally against the law is for election-related activities to what you're seeing right now.

And the reason you're seeing it right now is because the Trump campaign, even after this all started to become public, posted this on TikTok. Now, to be very clear -- and, Oren, this is what I want to ask you about -- the family members invited the former president.

The family members wanted him to bring a photographer and a videographer. They put out a statement saying as much. He did not seek out this visit. It was an invitation visit. He's very close to these families who lost loved ones in the Abbey Gate bombing.

I think the question right now is, for me, Oren, there's not been a lot of conversations, not been anything much said publicly from the cemetery or from the military. The decision to put out this statement seems notable to me.

LIEBERMANN: It is, and you're absolutely right to break this down into two separate parts of the visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

There is the part that can be very public, and that is the visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We routinely see wreath-laying ceremonies there, and there's nothing wrong with this. There's nothing that violates federal law. It is hallowed sacred ground that is visited by many VIPs, amongst them former President Donald Trump in the video you see on screen.

The issue is with the visit to Section 60. That's a part of Arlington National Cemetery that is hallowed ground for many of those who have lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including service members who lost their lives in the Abbey Gate bombing.

That is where the Trump campaign did have an invitation to visit from Gold Star families, from the Abbey Gate bombings. The issue is, it's not just that headstone that's visiting. There are other headstones visible there, and those are not allowed to be simply shot and put out as campaign, essentially, activities or campaign messages. [11:05:19]

And yet we see that they were here. That is the issue here. It is in Section 60 that you're not allowed to bring campaign photographers, campaign staff in a political partisan activity. That is what's explicitly forbidden by federal law, Phil.

MATTINGLY: All right, Oren Liebermann, sick with me.

I want to bring in retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, look, full disclosure, I have had a difficult time with this story. I have family members buried in Arlington, including a grandfather who was killed in action in Vietnam. It is a sacred place, and I have the unlimited respect for the family members here who invited the former president and wanted him with them in this private moment.

However, the federal law exists. What's your read on kind of what's actually happening right now?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Phil, this is a really sad and difficult story because, like you, we have family members, we have friends who are buried in Section 60 or in Arlington itself.

And one of the key things here is that this is really a major mistake by the Trump campaign when it comes to honoring the war dead. They did -- they were doing the right things, certainly in the public areas, as you and Oren were talking about, where photography is permitted.

But when it comes to the specific area of Section 60, where photography and campaign-type activities are not permitted, that is something that really flies in the face, not only of the rules, but also, frankly, of traditions of the Army and any of the services where members are buried there.

So the rules are there for a reason. They're there to respect all of the fallen. And everyone, including the families, should always take that into consideration. They, of course, have suffered grievous losses. But this is something where we should all step back a bit from this and take a look at this and say that there are certain rules that must be followed.

Basically, if it's conduct that you wouldn't do as a 5-year-old, whether your mother would stop you from doing that, you shouldn't be doing it as a 78-year-old.

MATTINGLY: Were you surprised that the Army put out a statement just moments ago? I think one of the hard parts about covering this story is this was a private incident or altercation, depending on whose version of events you believe. We didn't see it. The press was not there.

And we didn't hear much, other than a very short statement from the cemetery. It seemed like they just wanted to stay out of this. Now the Army has put it into words that they felt like it was wrong.

LEIGHTON: Yes, I think the Army felt that they needed to protect their employee that was involved, allegedly involved in this altercation or whatever this incident actually was between the Trump campaign staff and this individual.

So I think that, when -- the Army felt they needed to do that. They also needed to set some rules, basically, or reinforce the rules, I think in this case. And that's probably why they did it. But it's certainly a very strong statement by the Army and something that you look at which should never have happened, frankly.

MATTINGLY: Colonel Cedric Leighton, I appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much.

I want to go straight to CNN's Steve Contorno, who's on the ground in Michigan, where the former president will be and the first of two states he will be speaking at in campaign events tonight -- or later today.

Steve, you have been following this throughout the last several days. The Trump campaign pushed back very aggressively when NPR broke the original story about this. We have seen more aggressive pushback in the day since. One, have we heard from them yet about the Army statement? And, two, what do you think they're going to do next?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: I have not heard back from them.

I have asked the campaign to respond to this statement from the U.S. Army, and I will let as soon as I hear anything. I do want to point you to the original response, though, because, as you said, Phil, it was quite aggressive.

Steven Cheung, the communications director for the campaign, claiming the individual involved the incident at Arlington National Cemetery had -- quote -- "a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony."

The campaign also claimed that they had footage of what transpired and they threatened to release it if the -- if such defamatory claims were made about the campaign. I will point out they have not released any footage to date, and we have asked for them to do so. And we will see if they choose to release footage in response to the Army's statement here.

The campaign as well has been pushing aggressively the narrative that the families wanted them there, that they asked for them to be filmed, that they were OK with Trump's media team being present, and even with Trump's campaign putting out those videos.

[11:10:11]

But of course, Phil, as you said, as the Army has said, that doesn't necessarily mean it was OK under federal law.

MATTINGLY: All right, Steve Contorno, I know you're reporting this out as we speak, so I will let you get back to the reporting. Please let us know if we get a response.

And Steve makes a very important point. The families invited the former president. The families put out a statement saying that they wanted the former president there and had agreed and signed off on and actually requested the photographer and videographer to be there as well.

I think the disconnect here is that doesn't supersede federal law, which has been the issue. We now have that statement from the U.S. Army.

Let's bring in our panel to discuss, Republican strategist Rina Shah, CNN political analyst Jackie Kucinich, and Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky.

Jackie, I want to start with you, because, frankly, it's a -- I'm literally speechless right now. Like, I don't understand how we got here in the first place. What's your sense of things right now?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So I think, speaking purely politically, this could be a problem for the former president, because it fits a pattern that we have seen publicly, not only the reporting that he said some things about people -- about the fallen, but his recent comments about the Medal of Honor, when he gave that speech in front of the CIA Memorial Wall when he was president.

There's just -- there have been several incidents that involve the fallen -- military fallen that don't reflect kindly on the former president, and this seems to be another one. And it truly is -- it defies explanation, honestly, Bill.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

And, Rina, to be clear, like, I understand what happened. We're starting to get a fuller picture of it. I think the thing that is perplexing to me is it just seems so unnecessary in terms of both the aggressive response...

RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Right.

MATTINGLY: ... to the reporting and that it happened in the first place, because, again, he was invited by the families. The families wanted him there. He has been somebody the families consistently say has been somebody they deeply appreciate. They were at the convention speaking.

They lost loved ones. There's an enormous amount of respect and gratitude for that. And yet we are back in one of these moments again.

SHAH: Yes this is part of the campaign field in which there can be no unforced errors. And I think inside Trump world, there's a feeling of, uh-oh, here we go again.

With the military, with the talk of people who've served previously or currently, it seems he's always got his foot in his mouth, or the people around him do. But this is, again, just in line with what we have come to know. And a part of me does think that this will be swept under the rug really quickly, because obviously that's what they want.

But they want to paint this out to be a personality thing, that there are people out there, particularly the deep state, that narrative is continuing to be pushed out, that don't want Trump in power because they simply don't like him. And that's the, again, narrative I see being pushed by Trump world in the face, again, of these allegations of trying to be above the rules, above the law.

MATTINGLY: Yes, pinning this on an unnamed employee from the cemetery is nonsensical to me, although they aggressively did that.

I do want to move on to kind of broader politics, because there is 68 days until the presidential campaign. And this is a very real, very close race.

Julie, as you kind of look out into the former president, is in two blue wall states, obviously, the vice president and the governor are on their bus tour in Georgia right now, has a very big interview with our colleague, Dana Bash, tonight. What would you want to see if you're on the Harris campaign from that interview tonight?

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, look, this has to be an opportunity for both the vice president and for Governor Walz to really go out there and reiterate their message to a broad audience. This is going to have tremendous ratings tonight, because the Harris campaign has, for whatever reason, delayed and delayed and delayed, and now has gotten to the point where this has taken on outside importance.

So the opportunity for her exists to really reiterate the points that she made at the Democratic Convention, the points that she's been making on the stump. And smart campaigns do that, right? Smart campaigns look at these kinds of huge media opportunities as yet another way to communicate with voters in the same way that they use advertising to communicate with voters.

And agile, smart candidates are able to do that effectively. And so I think if she does that, and there are no enforced errors, and I would think that she's been very well prepped to ensure that there are no enforced errors, this is just yet another component to her being able to deliver that message on the stump, as she has in swing states all over the country.

MATTINGLY: Jackie, as we look towards that interview, we mentioned they're on the bus tour in Georgia, it comes after new FOX News polling shows an extremely tight race in all these Sun Belt battleground states.

And this is kind of what we were all expecting on some level, but was not the case four months ago, five months ago, when Biden was five or six points down in all of these. I guess my question is, how do you turn momentum into a durable coalition that can win? Do you get the sense in your reporting Democrats have that figured out yet?

[11:15:00]

KUCINICH: It seems -- I think, right now, when you're hearing from Democrats is they're happy the fact that this is holding, right?

We saw a little bit -- we saw a bump when Harris took over. And then coming out of the convention, it seems to be holding right now. But while she's getting out more publicly, while she's making less scripted appearances, I think that that's going to matter.

Because voters are -- yes, she has been vice president, and yes, she was a senator before that. Voters are just now getting to know her. So, solidifying the black vote, having it be Democrats come back, but also expanding that base, that is going to be the challenge, reassembling the Biden coalition that got him to victory just four years ago.

MATTINGLY: You know, Rina, one of the interesting things as you kind of read through the FOX News poll -- and, again, as I always say, one poll, snapshot in time, not the be-all/end-all, take them all together.

But one thing that's been consistent that we have seen for months now, Democratic Senate candidates in these critical battleground states, who absolutely have to win to hold out a majority, were long outrunning President Biden. They are still doing well in their races.

Is that going to hold? Because, frankly, especially a place like Nevada and some of these other races, it's not nearly as close as I thought it would be.

SHAH: The short answer is that we're not just sure. We have no indication to tell us that this trend will continue.

I had expected, obviously, this month to be a really good month for the Democrats, but Labor Day, to me, is a defining point, because this is the weekend, and particularly after such a big interview tonight, people will be trying to talk about what they heard tonight that she got right.

But then they will also be slamming her and Walz for what they got wrong. No doubt her handling of the southern border is going to become central in the interview. People will be listening closely for that, most Americans, because that is the defining issue that it seems the Trump campaign has made, and that's also kind of trickled over into these downballot races, the handling of the southern border as it's tied to crime and public safety, but, even beyond that, inflationary policies.

What did she think Biden got right, and what would she change? So I think we can expect, again, this bump, this trend of upward for the Democrats to hold until a week or two after Labor Day, but then it becomes dicey territory, and Democrats are really going to have to grab for what went well tonight.

MATTINGLY: It's a race, folks.

Guys, thank you so much for the breaking news.

We will be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:22:00]

MATTINGLY: Well, this just in, the Justice Department inspector general with a scathing report on the FBI, a new audit showing the bureau has continued to mishandle allegations of child sexual abuse years after its botched investigation into disgraced USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, this -- reportedly left child sex abuse allegations unaddressed for months while minors continued to be victimized.

CNN's Evan Perez joins me now.

Evan, what more are we learning from this audit?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this audit really takes the FBI to task for continuing to essentially violate its own policies with regard to how it handles these child abuse and child sex allegations.

And what the bureau is supposed to be doing is, whenever they get these reports, they're supposed to report them certainly to local authorities as a first instance and then look to see whether it's something that they want to handle and give the chance to the local authorities to be able to pick it up in case it is not a federal crime.

And so this is something that came out. These are policies that certainly got improved after the Larry Nassar case. You remember he was responsible for abusing athletes in the USA Gymnastics program for decades.

And the FBI fessed up to those problems, where there were reports of abuse that happened and they were not investigated properly and the abuse continued to happen. In this case, what the inspector general of the Justice Department found is that they looked at 327 cases and they found repeated examples where that did not happen, where they did not forward these investigations to local authorities and more significant investigative activity did not happen during that time.

One instance, someone was abusing someone and -- or allegations of that happened, and things didn't happen for about a year, according to the inspector general. So what we expect now, obviously, is that this is going to call new attention to this issue for the FBI, because it has happened before.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it's happened before.

And I think it was in 2021 when the FBI director said explicitly this won't happen again, I'm paraphrasing this, so correct me if I'm wrong on that, in the wake of the Nassar -- what happens now?

PEREZ: Well, the FBI says that they are going to do some new training. They're going to launch some new training for agents around the country as soon as later this month. And what they say -- one of the things that the inspector general

found was that there's caseloads that are just really big for some of these agents. And so it is a case where some of these agents are just handling a lot of things. And so you're right.

Chris Wray, the FBI director, promised at a Senate hearing that was just one of the worst you could imagine, right, for an FBI director, where he apologized to the victims of Larry Nassar and he said that this would never happen again. So the FBI says that they are going to make sure that fixes are made, that agents are doing -- following the rules and that this training that they're trying to institute, that everyone is following.

[11:25:03]

They claim that, at least in some cases, there is paperwork issues, where investigation -- investigative activity did happen, but it is not reflected in the paperwork that the FBI has and that the inspector general reviewed.

MATTINGLY: Evan, you been covering parts of this case for many years now.

PEREZ: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Great reporting, as always. Thanks so much.

PEREZ: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, still ahead: Ukraine says it has destroyed dozens of Russian drones in recent days. President Zelenskyy prepares to ask the U.S. for help with a new strategy.

A live report next.

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