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CNN This Morning
Crypto Chief Arrested Before He Was to Testify Before Congress; Massive Winter Storm to Impact 40M Today Across the U.S.; Special Counsel Subpoenas GA Secretary of State in Trump's Coup Attempt; Biden to Sign Bill to Protect Same-Sex Marriage Rights; Uvalde Sheriff Didn't Have Active Shooter Training. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired December 13, 2022 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, FOUNDER AND FORMER CEO, FTX: I'm-- you know, I don't think I committed fraud. I didn't want any of this to happen -- I was certainly not nearly as confident as I thought I was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:00:20]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Welcome to Tuesday and CNN THIS MORNING. We've got a lot to get to and talk about what's going on with that.
There's a big storm coming, so a lot of news. Good to see both of you this morning.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Ton of news.
LEMON: First up, the Crypto King arrested in the Bahamas after U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges. Where the investigation is now headed.
COLLINS: Also, Don mentioned that storm, and 40 million of you will be impacted by this huge winter storm as people brace for heavy snow and even flooding in some parts of the country. We are live in Shreveport in just a few minutes.
COLLINS: And the new special counsel, Jack Smith, has just subpoenaed Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who was on the receiving end of that infamous hour-long phone call with former President Trump. Why Raffensperger could prove to be a particularly compelling witness.
LEMON: But first, from Crypto King to criminal suspect. Sam Bankman- Fried's stunning fall has just gotten worse for him.
This morning federal authorities in New York are expected to unseal the indictment that led to his arrest Monday in the Bahamas. The 30-year-old founder of the failed FTX crypto exchange is set to
appear in a Bahamian court today. He was supposed to testify before Congress today to explain his company's sudden implosion. Remember, the once billionaire lost his entire fortune in just a matter of days.
We're going to get straight now to CNN's Christine Romans. She's here with more.
Christine, good morning to you.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
LEMON: He was supposed to testify and then now this. So --
ROMANS: Yes.
LEMON: -- what exactly happened?
ROMANS: Just an amazing fall from grace and so many people wondering where their money is.
Instead of testifying before Congress, he's facing an initial court appearance in the Bahamas. Just a stunning fall from someone who was once considered crypto's golden boy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Sam Bankman-Fried, the embattled founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency giant FTX, arrested in the Bahamas on Monday after U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges against him.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams confirming the arrest was based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York. A person familiar with the matter tells "The New York Times" the charges against the 30-year-old former billionaire include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.
And the SEC is now saying they, too, have "authorized separate charges relating to his violations of securities laws."
Bankman-Fried once considered one of the most powerful figures in crypto before his company suffered a liquidity crisis and filed for bankruptcy last month, leaving at least a million people without access to their funds. He has denied defrauding his customers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once the dust has settled and once all the investigations have happened, that you won't be arrested for fraud?
BANKMAN-FRIED: I don't think I will be. I don't think that I -- I don't think I tried to do anything wrong.
I don't know of FTX deposits being used to pay off Alameda creditors.
I -- knowingly commit fraud. I don't think I committed fraud. I didn't want any of this to happen. I was certainly not nearly as competent as I thought I was.
ROMANS (voice-over): The former FTX CEO teamed up with a slew of high- profile celebrities and TV ads in Super Bowl commercials promoting crypto.
The key question for investigators: whether FTX misappropriated customer funds when it made loans to Bankman-Fried's hedge fund, Alameda Research.
FTX's new CEO, John Ray, paints a picture of a crypto empire with virtually no corporate controls and a shocking lack of financial and other recordkeeping.
Ray, who is set to testify today before the House Financial Services Committee, wrote in a prepared statement the collapse of FTX is due to power left "in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals."
BANKMAN-FRIED: There was no person who was chiefly in charge of positional (UNINTELLIGIBLE) customers on FTX, and that feels pretty embarrassing in retrospect.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Virtually no regulation, absolutely no risk management, and just the beginning of legal hurdles for Bankman-Fried. A representative for him, for his legal team, did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
But it raises all kinds of questions about where the money for these investors.
And remember, this is a platform that was marketed as a really easy, entry-level way to get into crypto.
COLLINS: Mainstream.
ROMANS: Regular people. Like all, you know, Main Street investors could get into crypto. No one knows where that money is.
HARLOW: I'm so fascinated by the fact that he's done all these interviews recently. And despite his lawyers telling him to basically be quiet. I wonder how that's going to play into all of this.
ROMANS: I mean, there's all the sound of him explaining what he did and didn't do. That will definitely play into this. I mean, any lawyer would tell you, shut up, sit down, and we have to investigate what happened here with this company. But he is, even this weekend, he was talking to the BBC.
[06:05:08]
HARLOW: Yes.
LEMON: Lots more to discuss --
ROMANS: Yes.
LEMON: -- throughout the hours here on CNN.
ROMANS: Yes.
LEMON: Thank you, Christine Romans.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
LEMON: Appreciate it.
COLLINS: All right. This morning more states are banning the popular app TikTok over national security concerns. Alabama and Utah are now just the latest to ban the Chinese-owned video app on state-issued devices because of those concerns. They join a growing number of Republican-led states who pushed back against the platform's big influence in the United States.
Last week, Indiana filed two lawsuits against TikTok, saying that it's deceiving users. Of course, we've also seen the governor of South Dakota take the same action.
FBI Director Chris Wray says that the agency is concerned the app could also collect data on Americans to potentially spy on them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: All of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn't share our values, and that has a mission that's very much as odds with -- with what's in the best interests of the United States, that that should concern us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said, quote, "We are disappointed that so many states are jumping on the bandwagon to enact policies based on unfounded, politically charged falsehoods about TikTok."
HARLOW: Now to the huge storm making its way across the country right now. About 40 million people in more than a dozen states will be impacted in some way, and this storm seems to have something for everyone. This includes a blizzard warning in Wyoming and Nebraska; ice and sleet for the Dakotas and Minnesota; and from Texas to Tennessee, thunderstorms, hail and possible tornadoes.
Derek Van Dam joins us from Shreveport, Louisiana.
Good morning to you. That's one of the areas, right, under threat of tornadoes?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, most definitely, Poppy. Good morning to you.
This winter storm is a huge impact storm. From coast to coast, top to bottom, every American will feel the impacts of this particular storm, from a blinding blizzard literally just to my North and a severe weather threat with ongoing tornado watches to my West in Dallas-Fort Worth, for instance.
This storm is marching Eastward, and it is approaching this area. We are literally in ground zero for strong tornadoes. That is wording from the National Weather Service that they've used in their discussions within this area.
Now, they have had plenty of lead time. It was actually the earliest that an enhanced risk of severe storms was highlighted by the Storm Prediction Center in the month of December, six days out.
And you know what? All the ingredients are coming together. Mother Nature doesn't care that it's the middle of December and it's almost winter.
We've got the above-average temperatures. We have got the moisture surge from the Gulf of Mexico. We've got the wind. Well, now all we need is the literal, like, cold front to just trigger off those thunderstorms.
It's like Mother Nature is baking a cake, and those are the ingredients that are going to allow for that cake, or the thunderstorms to literally fire off today.
This is ground zero. Speaking to the warning meteorologist from the National Weather Service, they said that this area has a high density of mobile homes. People need to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice today -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Wow. Don was just saying. His family's been saying it's been unusually warm there. And that's not -- not good for this mix of what is to come.
Derek, thanks very much.
VAN DAM: And we can feel it.
HARLOW: Yes.
COLLINS: Also this morning, the new special counsel that is investigating former President Trump, Jack Smith, has issued a subpoena to the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. Raffensperger had already faced scrutiny for that infamous hour-long phone call that he had with Trump after the election.
I asked him about it just last week when we were in Georgia for that Senate runoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I always like to tell people I'm an engineer. And I like to stick into facts and details, and I let the lawyers decide on things like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: The special counsel has issued a flurry of subpoenas since he took over this position, including to election officials in battleground states where then former President Trump and his allies tried to overturn the election in 2020.
Jessica Schneider is live for CNN this morning in Washington.
Jessica, you know, Raffensperger could be quite the witness here, given he was part of that phone call where Trump was urging him to find those 11,000 votes that would essentially have invalidated President Biden's win in Georgia?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kaitlan. He could be one of the most compelling witnesses that the special counsel has subpoenaed so far. I mean, there has been a string of subpoenas from the special counsel, who's only been in this spot for a few weeks.
So Raffensperger really could prove to be a particularly compelling witness, because of course, he was one of the most high-profile officials who was under this direct pressure, which the world later heard via that audio recording, from the former President Trump, and under that pressure to tamper with the election results in Georgia.
Of course, Trump did ask Raffensperger to find just a few more votes, but Raffensperger persisted in resisting the president's plea. Here's that now-infamous audio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via phone): All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:10:15]
SCHNEIDER: So obviously, investigators will have a lot more questions about exactly what transpired in and around that phone call.
Interestingly, Raffensperger, Kaitlan of course, as you know, is a Republican. He's already spoken to the January 6th Committee. He's testified publicly this summer about the threats he faced after standing up to and pushing back against Trump. So he really could be this crucial witness for the special counsel.
COLLINS: Yes, and he was also a witness in that Fulton County grand jury in Georgia that's also investigating this. So he's been a witness --
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
COLLINS: -- quite a few times.
But when it comes to Jack Smith, the special counsel, he doesn't seem to be wasting a lot of time since he's been appointed. He's still technically in Europe, dealing with recovering from a biking accident.
But a big question I think people have is what kind of timeline does he seem to be operating on? You know, when could he maybe bring charges, if that's what he ultimately decides to pursue?
SCHNEIDER: Well, he said from the very beginning he will issue that statement when the attorney general, Merrick Garland, announced that he would be the special counsel, saying there will be no pause in this investigation.
And as we're seeing, we're seeing him go full steam ahead. We've seen a lot of subpoena activity. You know, we saw Raffensperger just yesterday.
Last week it was several election officials from battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona. They all received subpoenas looking for communications they had after the election and also around January 6th with Trump or his team.
Beyond subpoenas, the special counsel, even in the last few weeks, has brought a number of close associates of Trump before the grand jury. It was two former White House lawyers; also, former speechwriter Stephen Miller.
So we're seeing things move very quickly. The question, though, is how quickly will he move for charges, if any? That could be a little bit down the road, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes. Jessica -- Jessica Schneider, thank you.
LEMON: A historic milestone at the White House today. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act on the South Lawn.
It's a bill that protects the rights of Americans in same-sex and interracial marriages. There were concerns, of course, following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade back in June.
Straight now to CNN's M.J. Lee, live for us at the White House with more.
M.J., very big day for many Americans. Good morning to you.
M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don. Good morning.
Preparations are currently under way here at the White House for what is expected to be a significant and celebratory bill signing out on the South Lawn.
The signing of that bill, of course, says so much about how much the country has shifted on the issue of same-sex marriage, but also President Biden's own personal evolution on the issue over the course of decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pride is back at the White House.
LEE (voice-over): A history-making day at the Biden White House. President Biden set to sign into law today a bill that mandates federal protection for same-sex and interracial marriages.
BIDEN: From day one, this has been the most pro-equality administration in history.
LEE (voice-over): But this wasn't always his position. As senator, Biden had voted to block federal recognition of same-sex marriages and for years said that marriage should take place between a man and a woman.
BIDEN: We already have a law, the Defense of Marriage Act. We've all voted. I voted and others, and said, look, marriage is between a man and a woman, and states must respect that.
LEE (voice-over): But then in May of 2012, then-Vice President Biden, rocking the country with this now famous interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
TIM RUSSERT, FORMER HOST, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": And you're comfortable with same-sex marriage now?
BIDEN: Look, I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying, are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.
LEE (voice-over): Those comments, which Biden subsequently described as unplanned, marked the first time he had publicly expressed support for same-sex marriage and clarified his years-long personal evolution on the issue, prompting then-President Barack Obama to stake out the same position several days later.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.
He probably got out a little bit over his skis but out of generosity of spirit.
LEE (voice-over): The legislation passed on Capitol Hill last week with bipartisan support in both chambers.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The motion is adopted.
LEE (voice-over): Such a bill had seemed improbable for many in Washington not that long ago.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Happy pride!
LEE (voice-over): But the public push to pass federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages intensified this year, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
[06:15:07]
BIDEN: Justice Thomas said as much today. He explicitly called to reconsider the right of marriage equality, the right of couples to make their choices on contraception.
LEE (voice-over): Advocates of same-sex marriage celebrating the passage of that bill as a crucial milestone in American history.
SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-WI): With the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act. we can put to rest the worries of millions of loving couples who are concerned that someday an activist Supreme Court may take their rights and freedoms away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Now, I am told by White House officials that that famous "Meet the Press" Biden moment will be a significant theme today at today's bill signing, and the guests invited include prominent members of the LGBTQ community and activists.
And, Don, it goes without saying that, for so many of them, what is going to happen this afternoon at the White House has felt like a long time in coming -- Don.
LEMON: Right on. Thank you very much, M.J. Lee.
And straight ahead, we need to tell you the secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, will join us on the importance of this landmark bill.
And we have to remember, Joe Biden is the person that pushed the last [SIC] administration, that there was a reminder of that. And I'll be at the White House today to witness it. It's important.
HARLOW: You will.
LEMON: I am going to go to witness it in person. I think it's an important -- and my fiance, as well.
HARLOW: And it's both -- both gay marriage and interracial marriage, which I think is getting left out of this conversation. It's not been the headline as much.
COLLINS: Yes. It's just remarkable. Something it is something that was pushed on Capitol Hill. And people were -- even those who covered it very closely were surprised by how it kind of went from being something symbolic to something that actually felt the need to get passed.
LEMON: Right. That Loving decision, when you're talking about interracial marriage, was 1967. And here we are, 50 odd years later, and --
HARLOW: Finally. LEMON: Finally.
HARLOW: All right.
Well, also this. Sad to tell you, but we have discovered -- our reporter, Shimon Prokupecz -- another failure in Uvalde, Texas. Why didn't the sheriff's office have an active-shooter policy in place before 19 children and two teachers were murdered in their classroom?
COLLINS: Plus, Iran has executed another protester, with several more have been condemned to death. Prominent Iranians are asking the United Nations for help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:22:11]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. ROGER LANIER, MOSCOW, IDAHO, POLICE: It does often seem like we're backtracking, but we're really just trying to get the most important details and the best timeline that we can come up with. I want to let everybody know that we are still 100 percent committed to solving this crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: That is the captain of the Moscow Police force in Idaho, and they are attempting to set the record straight as we mark one month since the murder of four University of Idaho students. A month, and still no suspect.
Autopsies revealed that they were fatally stabbed in the home that they shared off-campus. While police have no suspects, they have not recovered the murder weapon.
They are, they say, sifting through what they call a steady stream of tips.
COLLINS: Also this morning, parents in Uvalde, Texas, are reeling from the latest revelation. This: that the sheriff's office didn't have an active shooter policy in place before that deadly shooting at Robb Elementary in May that took the lives of 19 children and two teachers.
Now, members of the community and those parents are calling for the removal of the acting sheriff.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is on the ground and has more on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We've learned from records that we've obtained from the Texas commissioner on law enforcement that the sheriff, Ruben Nolasco, did not go through active shooter training. Now, interestingly enough, that is not something that is required by
law.
We also learned that the sheriff's department had no active shooter policy. This is something that came up in a new report that was commissioned by the county, looking into the sheriff and his policies.
And also we just went to Uvalde to try and get answers for the families from some of the officials involved in the investigation.
JAVIER CAZARES, FATHER OF UVALDE SHOOTING VICTIM JACKIE CAZARES: The commissioner, you know --
PROKUPECZ: The sheriff?
CAZARES: Yes. You know, one by one, they're going to fall.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Just over six months since the Robb Elementary shooting, families of the victims gathering in force at the Uvalde courthouse.
CAZARES: I don't trust anybody at this point. I know -- I mean, we haven't got any information from any of them. Our information's been coming from you guys.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): They're still demanding to know what failures allowed the 19 children and two teachers who died to go without help for more than an hour while they were trapped alone with a gunman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- corrections (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): At a county commissioners' meeting, a highly- anticipated independent review of the sheriff's office revealed the department had no active shooter policy at the time of the massacre.
RICHARD CARTER, CONDUCTED REVIEW OF UVALDE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: There was no active shooter policy. There were only definitions. It did define what active shooters were, and there were portions that dealt with critical incidences and how officers would respond to that. But there was no active shooter policy.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The report did not examine the actions of the officers and their failures that day, only the policies that were in place.
[06:25:05]
Last week, a CNN investigation into the department's leader, Uvalde Sheriff Ruben Nolasco, revealed the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the county failed to organize a response even after he was informed of 911 calls from inside the room asking for help.
Nolasco says he didn't hear that call, even though body camera footage showed he was within earshot of multiple radios and was told by another officer on-scene.
RUBEN NOLASCO, UVALDE SHERIFF: OK. What we can do is move everybody --
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The sheriff gave incorrect information about what time he arrived at the school and what he communicated to other law enforcement leaders.
Nolasco did not appear at this meeting and has not responded to CNN's request for comment. Speaking in November, he said he thought his response was adequate.
PROKUPECZ: Hi, Madam D.A. Can we just --
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Someone who did make a rare appearance, speaking only behind closed doors, the Uvalde County district attorney.
PROKUPECZ: Any response to that?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Christina Mitchell is blocking any records or videos from being released while her investigation into the failure is ongoing.
PROKUPECZ: What are you waiting for, ma'am?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Her reasoning is wearing thin on the victims' families and the Uvalde mayor, who sued the D.A. last month, asking a judge to compel the release of information to the city.
Mitchell has said her investigation could take years. She continues to refuse to answer CNN's questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Also appearing publicly for the first time since a CNN investigation into his actions, Mariano Pargas. Pargas was acting Uvalde City police chief on the day of the shooting. A CNN investigation revealed he had direct knowledge of the phone call and even confirmed the details with the Uvalde dispatcher, and still failed to organize help.
MARIANO PARGAS, FORMER ACTING UVALDE CITY POLICE CHIEF: All I can say is that a lot that's been put out there is not the way it happened. That's all I can tell you.
PROKUPECZ: Like what, sir? I'm Shimon Prokupecz from CNN.
PARGAS: OK. I'll get back to you.
PROKUPECZ: I understand that. But we've been trying to talk to you. We spoke on the phone.
PARGAS: Yes.
PROKUPECZ: So -- but you're saying of the stuff.
PARGAS: I have a commission meeting to go --
PROKUPECZ: You're saying that some of the stuff that was put out there is not -- is not accurate. So I'm asking you what that is.
PARGAS: Can you keep on moving?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Pargas resigned from the police department before the city could fire him but is still a Uvalde County commissioner, a post he was re-elected to in November.
After the meeting, angry parents waited outside.
PROKUPECZ: You are an elected official. We would like to ask you questions. Do you think that what you did that day was adequate, sir?
PARGAS: Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Pardon me. Excuse me, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to say anything?
PROKUPECZ: Anything that you have to say?
BERLINDA ARREOLA, GRANDMOTHER OF UVALDE SHOOTING VICTIM AMERIE JO GARZA: Shut up! I hope you also -- take care of your -- his grandkids! I hope so!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll force you out. One way or another you're being forced out.
ARREOLA: Talking about my son, por favor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PROKUPECZ (on camera): And there you can see just the anger from the families who are continuing to have to fight, to demand answers and to get information they really should have had months ago addressing so many of the failures on that day. And still to this day, there is still so much we don't know.
Back to you.
COLLINS: Yes. And Amerie's grandmother saying she was shocked that there was no active shooter policy in place.
Shimon Prokupecz, thank you for that report.
Also this morning, the Russian president has suddenly canceled a trademark December news conference -- He does this every year -- as his war in Ukraine is facing more setbacks.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDRA PELOSI, FILMMAKER: After my father was attacked, that was it. We were sitting in the ICU, and we were just saying, We're done. That's it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Ahead, you see her right there. Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi talks about the attack on her father, Paul Pelosi, and her mom's long career on Capitol Hill.
HARLOW: Does she want to see her or Christine (ph)?
LEMON: Does she want to be speaker?
HARLOW: Isn't there, Kaitlan? Isn't there --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:00]
