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Trump Organization Guilty On All Counts Of Criminal Tax Fraud; Democrat Warnock Wins Georgia Senate Seat, Growing Party's Majority; Tens Of Thousands Still In Dark After "Targeted Attack" On Grid. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 07, 2022 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: But notably here, guys, this criminal referral does not carry any legal weight. The Justice Department is not compelled to charge anyone after a congressional referral like this. So it's largely symbolic if it happens but, of course, it would still be significant.

And it could be any number of people. It could be the former president, Donald Trump, and any number of his allies or top aides who may have been involved around January 6, guys.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Just a quick question for you. Do we -- what's the timeline here for all of this and what does it mean if there is a criminal referral, and so on and so forth?

SCHNEIDER: It has to happen pretty quickly here, Don because the committee is looking at its endgame. Because once January hits and the Republicans take over, this committee will essentially be no longer. So what we've been told is that mid-December -- any day now -- is really when they're looking to release their final report. And presumably, right around that time is when they'd make any of these criminal referrals to DOJ.

So we're really looking at a number of days here. And it looks like they've made a decision that they're going to refer -- we just don't know exactly who yet.

HARLOW: Yes. And as you said, the Justice Department can do it without a referral completely.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, exactly.

HARLOW: Jessica Schneider, thanks for the reporting from Washington.

LEMON: Well, this morning, two Trump Organization companies have been found guilty on all 17 charges connected to a 15-year tax fraud scheme. They were accused of compensating top executives with off-the- books luxury perks worth millions to help them avoid paying taxes.

Kara Scannell joins us now. I mean, wow. Good morning to you. Did you expect them to be found guilty on all 17 charges?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, this trial has taken place over seven weeks. We heard a lot of testimony.

And the key testimony came from the chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, who really walked a tight rope when he gave his testimony because he's still a paid employee of the company but he pleaded guilty and got this deal with prosecutors where he had to show up and tell the truth. So he explained to the jury how this scheme worked.

As prosecutors said, this was a win-win. The company paid less in taxes. These executives got all these perks and they paid less in their personal taxes for this.

Now, prosecutors, during the trial, brought up the former president multiple times. And in the end, in their closing statement, they said that Trump had sanctioned some of this tax fraud though, of course, he wasn't charged in this case.

But this is a very significant win for the Manhattan district attorney's office. It's also a significant loss for the former president. He's facing multiple criminal investigations and he's going to be embarking on this run for 2024. This certainly gives his rivals some ammunition.

But the jury -- eight men, four women -- returned these verdicts in two days -- across the board guilty.

And I think we have some sound of the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. Right -- soon after the verdict he spoke to reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVIN BRAGG, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: As the jury address has indicated, this was a case about lying and cheating, false documents to the aim of evading taxes for the individuals and the corporations. They've now been held accountable in a court of law right here in Manhattan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: So the judge will sentence the Trump Organization next month. They could face as much -- this is the statutory maximum -- of $1.6 million. But it's not just that. I mean, a company that is indicted -- they can have issues getting financing and they can have issues conducting business. So the real-term impact of this has yet to be seen.

HARLOW: We're going to have the Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg, on a little bit later in the show to talk more about this and what he may be doing going forward.

But I thought it was interesting the defense counsel moved for a mistrial -- basically saying look, to the prosecutors, you invoked Trump himself too much in this. You relied on that. They're going to appeal. What do you make of that argument, and is the Trump Organization

responding to all of this?

SCANNELL: Yes. I mean, so that was a big thing in the -- in the case. They said you put too much of this on Trump. And the judge said he wasn't going to grant a mistrial. He gave the jury what's known as limiting instructions, saying don't put so much weight on what they said about Trump. Just use it to evaluate the credibility of some of these other witnesses, like in Allen Weisselberg.

And the -- and the defense, the entire time -- they used this mantra. They said repeatedly Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg. They wanted to make this point that he was a rogue employee that no one else in the company knew about. And prosecutors said, of course, other people knew about this and that is why they were bringing up Trump here.

Now, Trump's -- a lawyer for the Trump Corporation, after the verdict -- Susan Necheles -- she said, "Why would a corporation whose owner knew nothing about Weisselberg's

personal tax returns be criminally prosecuted for Allen Weisselberg's personal conduct for which they had no visibility or oversight? This case was unprecedented and legally incorrect. We will appeal this verdict."

And that -- you know, there are grounds here that they're going to bring this appeal. This will take some time to play out but for now, the jury has spoken and guilty on all counts.

LEMON: Yes. All right, Kara. Thank you very much -- appreciate it. More to come on that.

Trump Organization lawyers already plan to appeal, as Kara just said. We're going to ask the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, if he thinks his courtroom victory will hold up. That live interview is straight ahead.

HARLOW: And next, how just one more seat can make a very big difference for Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

[05:35:01]

LEMON: Huge.

(COMMERCIAL)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kaitlan Collins back live in Atlanta.

After last night's race here in Georgia, the balance of power in the Senate will soon be Democrats, 51; Republicans, 49. Raphael Warnock's win gives Democrats a slim but potentially crucial majority.

[05:40:02]

CNN's congressional correspondent Lauren Fox is live in Washington. Lauren, Democratic senators can do a lot more with 51 instead of that

50-50 split that we have seen over the last two years where you saw basically, Sen. Manchin and Sen. Krysten Sinema had this veto power over what the Democratic agenda was going to look like.

Talk to us about what this means for Democrats.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kaitlan. Look, it's one vote and yet, it is so consequential.

And the first way it's consequential is dealing with how these committees have been structured for the last two years. They've been evenly divided, which means every time they wanted to advance a nominee that was controversial with Republicans, Democrats had to use this very long floor process to get nominees through the Senate. Now they're going to be able to move more quickly in committee.

They also had to get sign-off from Republicans to issue a subpoena. Now they're going to be able to pursue investigations that they want to pursue without getting that sign-off. So that's significant.

It's also significant for how the majority leader Chuck Schumer can operate in the Senate. Remember, the whole world has revolved around Manchin and Sinema the last two years, and making sure that anytime he wanted to move forward with legislation that only had Democratic votes, he had every single member on board. Now, he could lose one of them and still advance legislation. And that's important because obviously, there were so many heartburns and so many heartaches when it came to things like Build Back Better over the last two years, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. Manchin says he's happy not to be that deciding vote. We'll see how that plays out.

But I think a big question people have is how this factors into just control of both chambers. Because obviously, the Republicans have a slim majority. It's slim but they still have that majority come January.

So what does that look like now, in addition to what's happening on the Senate side, with this big victory for Warnock last night?

FOX: Yes, Schumer gained a vote but he also lost the possibility to work with Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives to move his agenda more quickly. So what this means is that if Kevin McCarthy becomes the speaker -- and we should note he's still fighting for the votes -- he's going to have to contend with the right flank of his conference, and that's just going to make it more of a headache in Congress overall. A divided Congress is always more difficult for Democrats even if they had that majority in the Senate.

So, yes, he gets an extra vote in the Senate. He could move forward maybe more quickly there. And for nominations, it's very significant where you don't have to get those nominations approved in the House. But it is a huge, huge headwind going into the next year, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes.

Lauren Fox, thank you for that. And welcome back. We're so glad to have your insight back, especially on CNN THIS MORNING.

FOX: Thank you.

COLLINS: All right.

And joining us now from Atlanta is Lisa Rayam, the host of "Morning Edition" on Atlanta's National Public Radio station WABE. She's a longtime Atlanta journalist who has covered Georgia politics for more than 20 years. So who better than to discuss and break down what happened last night? Lisa, good morning and thank you for joining us.

LISA RAYAM, HOST, "MORNING EDITION" ON ATLANTA'S WABE RADIO: Good morning.

COLLINS: I just want to --

RAYAM: Thank you.

COLLINS: I want to start with -- you know, I'm sure you were up late last night as most of the reporters here in Atlanta were. What stood out to you as you saw Warnock defeat Walker in this race?

RAYAM: Oh my goodness. Once the polls closed, the numbers started to trickle in rather quickly. But by 8:00 p.m. we knew that the polling was pretty on target in saying that this was going to be a neck-and- neck race.

The seesawing that took place over the next two to three hours was just incredible to watch. Senator (sic) Walker up 30,000 and then down 10,000. It just went up and down, up and down all night. The changing point was that when a county in middle Georgia that normally goes Republican went blue for Warnock, and that changed his momentum throughout the course of the evening.

But our reporters -- they were stationed at the headquarters and they reported about the anxiousness of both candidates. Just how they weren't sure how it was going to turn at one point even though both went in with a whole lot of confidence going into yesterday's election.

So what stood out is how dead-on the polling was and just how close this race really was until the very end.

COLLINS: Yes, it's still very close as they are watching it.

We've talked a lot about what Kemp's Get Out the Vote apparatus did for Walker. How they were trying to help him in these last four weeks. But what about Democrats because they have spent years trying to really change what their voter turnout looks like in Georgia, and just what did you see in that last night?

RAYAM: Well, what I saw was a ground game that worked for the Democrats. Raphael Warnock really pounded the pavement and reached out to all bases -- Asian-Americans, Hispanics, young people, those in the military, seniors. His ground game really outsourced and outpaced that of Herschel Walker.

[05:45:08]

What I did notice in the past few days is that Herschel Walker was a little more vocal and he was really trying to get out and meet people. He went to a diner yesterday morning on Election Day to do a meet and greet. But I think it was too little too late for the Walker campaign.

COLLINS: Yes, and part of that was Kemp trying to help him as well. There were those voters -- over 200,000 of them -- who had voted for the Republican governor in the general election but did not cast their vote for Walker.

I actually spoke with one of them yesterday who changed his mind -- who did go and vote for Walker. I want you to listen to what he told me about what motivated him.

RAYAM: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Was it difficult for you to vote for Herschel Walker?

ED CORDELL, GEORGIA VOTER: It was. I have to look at the ladies in my family with a straight face and say that I voted for Walker. So, yes.

COLLINS: And what did they think?

CORDELL: They have their own opinions but, you know, they respect mine. But there were a few shakes of the head.

COLLINS: How much did Gov. Kemp coming out on the campaign trail for him factor into your decision?

CORDELL: If he had not come out it would have factored into it.

COLLINS: You wouldn't have voted for him?

CORDELL: I might not have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: What did you make of that, Lisa?

RAYAM: Well, we thought Gov. Kemp doing that television ad for Walker was really going to change the game for him because that was a really big deal. You remember Gov. Kemp, running for reelection, kind of distanced himself from Herschel Walker because of his ties to former President Trump. So when he did that commercial it was like a wow factor and thought it was really going to change the game for Herschel Walker.

But of that 200,000 -- that magic number you're talking about that voted for Gov. Kemp -- a large portion of that was women in the suburbs who were really on the fence and disturbed by those domestic violence allegations. And Raphael Warnock honed in on them. He really went to work and tried to reach that base, and some of that base turned in his favor last night.

COLLINS: Yes, clearly.

Lisa, thank you so much.

RAYAM: You're welcome.

COLLINS: All right. Harry and Meghan were honored last night in New York as the rest of the royal family is bracing for what might be revealed in their new documentary that is set to be released in just a matter of hours.

HARLOW: Also this morning, still no heat and no answers after that attack on those power stations in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAKASHA JACKSON, AFFECTED BY POWER OUTAGE IN NORTH CAROLINA: No lights, no power. Can't really do nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:52:03]

LEMON: So, here we go. New this morning, tens of thousands of people in Moore County, North Carolina remain in the dark, but that could change by the end of the day. Gunfire damaged two substations this weekend in an attack officials called deliberate. The power company now hoping those affected could soon see some relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF BROOKS, DUKE ENERGY SPOKESMAN: We're down to about 35,000 customers who are without power currently. The good news is we have communicated up to this point that we would expect the final customers to be back on sometime later on Thursday. We have made very good progress today and are moving that estimate up to Wednesday night just before midnight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, joining us now on CNN THIS MORNING, from Moore County, North Carolina, is our law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild. Good morning to you, Whitney. The latest on the investigation? Any word on a motive?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Not yet, Don. This has been extremely difficult and frustrating for law enforcement. They do not -- they're not able to nail down a motive at this point. And further, Don, at this point, they're reluctant to release very much information, saying only that they are relying on tips from the public to help drive this investigation. Again, just to recap, what they do know is that somebody shot at these two substations that are a few miles apart here in Moore County. That happened Saturday night. Ever since then, this area has been plunged into darkness, although over the last few hours -- the last 12 hours or so, thousands and thousands of residents have seen their power come back on. That includes the neighborhood surrounding this substation where I am here in north -- Carthage, North Carolina, Don.

LEMON: So the American Red Cross, Whitney, has set up shelters where people can get out of the cold. They can take some warm showers and any help that they need.

What are people you spoke to saying?

WILD: This has been a very long few days here in Moore County, North Carolina. Here is what two people told us who were receiving services at one of the local shelters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACKSON: I have a 1-year-old, so it's very hectic. No lights, no power. Can't really do nothing. The kid's scared of the dark.

AMBER SAMPSON, AFFECTED BY POWER OUTAGE IN NORTH CAROLINA: We got home, no power -- anything. And we chose to come here because we feel like it's safer. It's different. It's kind of hard to sleep, you know.

But at the end of the day, I would rather be somewhere where it's warm, where we have food, where we're taken care of, than to be somewhere where it's freezing cold and not knowing or wondering if through your sleep you're going to go into an epileptic shock from being so cold, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: It's so challenging.

Here in Moore County, the temperatures are ticking up. As you said, the power is supposed to come back on this evening sometime around midnight at the very latest. That's much earlier than was originally anticipated. The power company, before, saying they didn't think they could get everybody restored until Thursday.

[05:55:00]

So, Don, the good news is it sounds like this nightmare will soon be over.

LEMON: All right, let's hope.

Whitney Wild, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

The people have spoken. Those were Rev. Raphael Warnock's words to supporters after winning reelection in the Georgia Senate runoff. What his victory means for Georgia and the nation. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"All We Do Is Win" played at Sen. Raphael Warnock's victory party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What's that song called?

LEMON: I don't know the song but I've definitely heard it.

HARLOW: Isn't it called "All We Do Is Win?" Isn't that what they told us?

LEMON: All I want -- all I ever do is win, win, win.

[06:00:00]