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Trump Expected to Arrive in NYC Today & Surrender Tomorrow; Oil Prices Surge as OPEC+ Set to Cut Production; At Least 32 People Dead after 50+ Tornadoes Rip Through 7 States. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:10]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm happy you were here. I'm Omar Jimenez. I'm saying goodbye, but you get to say hello to CNN THIS MORNING, which starts right now.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Right on time.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We are right on time. Good morning, everyone.

LEMON: Can't see anything right now.

HARLOW: We'll get you clean your lenses.

LEMON: Smooch all over my glasses.

HARLOW: Good weekend?

LEMON: Great weekend.

HARLOW: Good.

LEMON: Great weekend.

HARLOW: Good weekend.

LEMON: Yes.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Everyone bracing for what's going to happen this week.

HARLOW: Are you ready for this week? We are expecting a very busy one. So let's get started with five things to know for this Monday, April 3, 2023.

Donald Trump set to arrive in New York today ahead of his arraignment tomorrow. Trump facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud.

COLLINS: Also former Arkansas governor, Asa Hutchinson, says he is now running for president. The former governor says that he is already also calling on Trump to step out of the race. Meanwhile, oil prices spiking overnight after OPEC+ announced a

surprise cut in production. The Biden administration slamming the move in their response.

LEMON: Also this morning, NASA set to announce the astronauts chosen for its Artemis 2 mission. It will be the first manned space flight around the moon in 50 years.

And go Tigers. G-E-A-U-X, the way we spell it in Louisiana, by the way. LSU's women's basketball team, as we say, Lady Tigers, if you're from Louisiana -- has won its first NCAA title, beating Iowa.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

(MUSIC)

HARLOW: There you go. What's it called, fight song?

COLLINS: First national title for LSU. It's amazing.

LEMON: I know. it's amazing. They were great. And the coach, as Kaitlan and I always talk about, the coaches. My gosh, she's good.

This is -- this brings me back. I feel like it's the Eighties all over again with me being in LSU. This is great. The first time. So proud, like all of my friends from home were so excited and texting my mom and my sister, were all watching. We were all on. It's just really, really great.

By the way, Kaitlan, we thought it was going to be like Alabama. I'm not like, you know, busting your chops, but we thought Alabama was going to -- We had no idea -- this was a surprise -- that LSU would end up and this.

COLLINS: Yes. This is a woman's team. It's still amazing because they were playing Iowa, and Caitlin Clark on Iowa's team is incredible. I love --

HARLOW: That's what her coach said about her. She's a generational player about.

COLLINS: She really is. She really is. There's no one like that.

LEMON: But I -- it also was interesting. It was to see her on asked questions. She was so emotional. She could barely get it out. So everybody was crying.

HARLOW: OK so we'll have a lot more on that later. But there's a lot going on here in New York.

Just hours from now. Former President Trump will return here in New York City as he prepares to turn himself in tomorrow to face criminal charges. Here's a live look at Trump's private plane in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump says he will leave Florida around noon today. He was spotted waving to supporters over the weekend as he left his golf club. This will be the first time in U.S. history that an ex-president will be arraigned in court.

Later today, the judge expected to decide if he'll allow cameras in that courtroom so the American public can watch all of it. Because it is history unfolding here.

The Secret Service has been helping coordinate security at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan. We're told Secret Service employees will be at the metal detectors.

And the former president is not expected to be handcuffed, because he'll be surrounded by federal agents when he's processed, fingerprinted and has his mug shot taken.

So let's begin this hour with senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid.

Paula, good morning.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HARLOW: All right. So he gets here today, and then tomorrow it -- he'll be in court.

The question is, between this morning and the court hearing tomorrow, will this indictment be unsealed?

REID: That's one of the big questions right now, because the charges in this historic case are still under steel [SIC].

Now, mind you that has not stopped the former president from attacking the district attorney, even the judge who will oversee the case. And his lawyers tried to do a little cleanup on those attacks over the weekend, but they've made it clear that, whatever these charges are, they're going to fight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REID (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump is expected to arrive in New York Monday afternoon, ahead of what will be the first ever arrangement of a former president of the United States.

Over the weekend, his legal team was on the attack.

JOE TACOPINA, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: The team will look at every -- every potential issue that we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge. And of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming, because there's no law that fits this.

REID (voice-over): But the charges against Trump have not yet been revealed, even to his lawyers, and will only be unsealed Tuesday, unless the judge agrees to grant a request made by several media outlets, including CNN, to unseal it sooner.

[06:05:09] CNN has learned the charges include more than 30 counts related to business fraud.

A grand jury returned an indictment Thursday after a years'-long probe into a hush-money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 election.

Trump has gone on the offense, attacking District Attorney Alvin Bragg, calling him corrupt, claiming Bragg is using a "venue where it is impossible" for him to get a fair trial.

And as he has done before, even going after the judge who will oversee this case, claiming he hates him and alleging he treated his companies "viciously" in a prior case.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It's deeply ironic that a person who spent a good part of his four years in the White House trying to weaponize the Justice Department against his political enemies, is now saying he's the victim of persecution. It's sort of what comes around, goes around.

REID (voice-over): Security preparations are underway for Trump's initial appearance in this Manhattan courthouse. He is expected to be fingerprinted, but it's not clear if he will have a mug shot, sources tell CNN, amid concerns it could leak, in violation of state law.

And sources tell CNN that Trump is keeping track of who is publicly supporting him.

BILL BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The case, based again on what's being reported, the case lacks any legal basis. It's pursuing somebody on the -- there's nothing inherently wrong or illegal about making a hush payment.

REP. KEN BUCK (R-CO): We're not dealing with a blind -- a blindfolded Lady Justice in this situation. We're dealing with a political prosecutor who has stated that he is going after President Trump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID (on camera): One of the big questions now is whether there will be cameras in the courtroom for this arrangement. That is ultimately up to the judge, and this judge historically has not been in favor of having cameras in his courtroom.

But several media organizations, including CNN, are pushing for this, arguing that the public interest is at its zenith when we're talking about the arrangement of a former president of the United States.

LEMON: A short amount of time. Is that likely?

REID: So based -- based on the history here with this judge, it is not likely. But he gave both sides, the prosecutors and the defense, until 1 p.m. to raise any objections.

I reached out to the Trump legal team last night to see if they'd be in favor of this. They didn't respond.

HARLOW: OK. Paula, thank you very much.

COLLINS: And as we wait to see if there will be cameras in the courtroom, we do know we will hear from former President Trump this week. Kristen Holmes is in West Palm Beach, Florida, outside or near Mar-a-Lago, I should say.

Kristen, former President Trump says he's leaving Mar-a-Lago at noon today. He's flying here to New York. What else do we know about what the logistics of his trip here before that arraignment tomorrow is going to look like?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kaitlan, so he's going to be staying at Trump Tower. He's going to land in LaGuardia Airport. This is all according to a source I just heard from.

Then he's going to overnight there go to that arrangement on Tuesday, and then he will be wheels up back to Florida immediately afterwards.

And as you noted, he will be delivering remarks from his Mar-a-Lago home about 8:15 Tuesday night. And those invitations have already gone out. I have talked to a multiple sources who have received them. They are lawmakers, allies, club members.

And I'm told by some source -- a source close to Trump that this is really his opportunity to take control of the narrative after we learn what those charges are.

So far, he has painted this as a political hoax and a witch hunt. It will be interesting to see whether or not that changes once we learn what those charges are.

But I am told by sources who spoke to Trump, members of his inner circle, that in between rounds of golf this weekend, Trump spent his time on the phone, texting, calling allies, and touting the political positive of this indictment. He went over poll numbers that showed him leading in a hypothetical head-to-head with Ron DeSantis.

And he talked about those fundraising numbers. We know the campaign has said that they raised $5 million in the first 48 hours after that indictment was announced.

We've also learned that Trump and his advisers are looking at ways to politically capitalize on this indictment. One of the things that they had been batting around was actually putting Trump's mug shot onto campaign merchandise, like shirts and mugs. That's something as sort of a rallying cry for his supporters.

Now, obviously, as we know, we are still uncertain whether or not he will actually get a mug shot. As we heard from Paula, authorities are worried about that potentially leaking, which would be a violation of state law -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. He's certainly fundraising off of all this already, though. Kristen Holmes, we'll stay with you. Thanks so much. HARLOW: All right, let's turn now to the Justice Department's probe --

This is a separate investigation -- into classified documents found in Mar-a-Lago.

"The Washington Post" yesterday reporting this, that federal investigators have, quote, "amassed fresh evidence" pointing to possible obstruction by former President Trump.

Here's what the post is reporting: that investigators now suspect that boxes of classified documents were moved from a storage area at Mar-a- Lago. This is after -- and this matters, the timing -- after the DOJ served a subpoena to recover those documents from Florida; and that Trump personally, investigators believe, examined at least some of those boxes again after the subpoena.

[06:10:21]

Trump's team only returned some documents with classified markings. An FBI search at Mar-a-Lago would later find more than 100 classified items that were not turned over, including top-secret documents.

"The Post" reports investigators have obtained emails and text messages of a former Trump staffer. And they give a detailed understanding of what was happening during those months at Mar-a-Lago.

More on that as we get it.

LEMON: Let's get perspective on what's happening, especially here in New York. CNN senior legal analyst and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Elie Honig joins us now.

And we should point out that he also knows Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg personally here, so we just want to disclose that.

Elie, a good morning to you. Let's start with New York indictment, what we're going to see this week. What are we learning about the charges that he might be facing? Basically, what's in the indictment? Right?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So we have not seen the indictment yet, but we're getting really important indicators that give us a sense of what could be in there.

First of all, Don, on Friday, the judge in this case issued the first official order in the case. Basically just saying Alvin Bragg, the D.A., can disclose that there's an indictment. It will be unsealed on Tuesday. But this was really important moment, because we saw for the first time the case caption: "People of the State of New York Against Donald J. Trump, Defendant." This is real.

We also learned over the weekend that there will be at least one felony charge in this indictment. There better be, by the way. If this is just a bunch of misdemeanors, the D.A. is going to have some serious questions to answer. But here's what that could mean. It looks like some of the charges

will relate to falsification of business records. The idea is they falsely log these payments as attorney's fees, but that would just be a misdemeanor, the less serious type of charge, with a one-year maximum.

The dividing line between a misdemeanor and felony, by the way, is one year. If it's one year or less, it's a misdemeanor as the max. And if it's above one year, then it's a felony.

How could you make this a felony? If they can tie those business records to some other crime, to some second crime.

And the theory here is that second crime could be a campaign finance violation. If prosecutors charge and prove that, it's a Class E felony, the lowest level of felony in New York state, which has a maximum of four years.

And finally, Don, we know from our reporting from John Miller and others here that the indictment is expected to have 34 counts. That's a lot. But each individual entry in the business records could be its own count.

LEMON: You've heard a lot of the Trump folks out this weekend, the attorney saying that they're going to fight this. They're going to seek to dismiss this.

What kind of legal tactics will they use to do that?

HONIG: Yes. They're not playing this one very close to the vest. They spent a lot of the weekend talking to Dana Bash and others about their strategy.

They are going to argue that legally, we're in state court here, in New York state court. You cannot charge a violation of a federal election law -- This is a presidential election -- under state law. And if they do that, by the way, they could knock out this, because that other crime is the federal election violation, leaving them with only misdemeanors. So that's going to be a really important argument.

We also know, from listening to Trump's lawyers this weekend, they're going to argue there was no intent to defraud here, meaning in most business records cases, somebody takes a record, falsifies it, gives it to somebody else in order to steal money. That's not the case here. It's a little different scenario.

They're going to argue that, as well. Trump's team is also going to argue statute of limitations, meaning you typically have five years from the time of felonies committed to charge it. Two years for a misdemeanor.

Now we're beyond both of those time periods. However, they are going to be rescued here, because there's a -- prosecutors are going to be rescued, because there's a New York law that says you can pause that time period when someone's living continuously out of state. Trump has lived in the White House and Mar-a-Lago. And then finally, I am certain that Trump's team -- and they've more

than signaled this -- is going to argue selective prosecution. They're going to say he's been singled out for political purposes. That's a really difficult argument to succeed there.

LEMON: You're using their -- John Edwards argument, right, in this case, right?

What about the judge? Because Trump has talked about the judge. What about the judge in this case? What do we know?

HONIG: Right. So the judge here, Juan Merchan -- by the way, let me just point out. This is called New York Supreme Court. Little bit confusing. That's what they call the trial level court here in New York.

The judge is a former prosecutor. He was with the D.A.'s office. Same office that's prosecuting this case, and the A.G.'s office.

Let me say, nothing unusual or inappropriate about that. Many judges are former prosecutors.

He's been on the bench since 2006. Best known before this because he presided over the case against Allen Weisselberg, who pled guilty, and the trial of the Trump Organization.

Trump's lawyers, by the way, may object to this, because the way this judge got put on this case, his prosecutor said it's related to these cases, so he should get it, as opposed to just going into the wheel for random assignment.

Watch for Trump's lawyers to challenge that and say this should not be related to that. We should get a randomly assigned judge.

And finally, Don, the judge has to make his first really big decision, probably today, about whether he'll allow cameras in the courtroom for tomorrow's proceeding.

We at CNN are part of a group of media outlets that have asked the judge, let us see it. Open up the courtroom. It's a public proceeding. Let the cameras in.

He'll have to decide that soon.

[06:15:04]

LEMON: You think that'll happen?

HONIG: You know, he has a history of not allowing cameras in. But given the level of public interest here, I don't see how he says no. I think it's -- I think he -- look, if I can opinionate for a second, he should let cameras in, because the public interest in this is through the roof.

LEMON: Really? All right, Elie Honig. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Poppy.

HARLOW: One explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, has killed a prominent Russian blogger, and now officials suspect that he was targeted. We'll take you live to Moscow.

COLLINS: We're also tracking other important news here in the United States this morning. Communities across the South and Midwest are now facing a massive cleanup after tornadoes ripped through the region. We'll take you live to the ground in Arkansas when we're back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: This morning, there's a new risk for the global economy as OPEC+, the group of the world's largest oil-producing nations, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq, have announced a surprise production cut of more than a million barrels a day.

That move is set to begin in May and has sent oil prices soaring to $86 a barrel, about $10 higher than they were. They could mean higher gas prices, and it could also hurt efforts here in the U.S. and abroad to curb inflation.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now, live from the White House.

Jeremy, I imagine the White House was not too pleased when this was announced by OPEC.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, certainly not, Kaitlan. And they do appear to be surprised, just like the rest of us who are learning about this surprise cut that didn't come at one of those quarterly OPEC meetings, but instead, simply announced by the OPEC+ group.

[06:20:0]

And keep in mind the reason why, is that cutting oil production leads to higher oil prices, which could lead to higher gas prices here in the United States. And, of course prolonging this lingering inflation that President Biden has been dealing with and the country has been dealing with.

This production cut is expected to go into play in May. Could last until the end of the year, and Saudi Arabia is building this as a precautionary move to try and stabilize oil markets.

But that's not how the White House sees this. And this is a statement from the National Security Council spokesperson, who says, quote, "We don't think cuts are advisable at this moment, given market uncertainty, and we've made that clear. We will continue to work with all producers and consumers to ensure energy markets support economic growth and lower prices for American consumers."

Now you'll recall that this follows a similar cut that OPEC did back in October of two million barrels per day. At the White House, the -- at the time, the White House reacted quite angrily, with President Biden vowing that there would be consequences for Saudi Arabia doing this and the OPEC group doing this, saying that it was intended to try and mitigate the economic consequences that Russia was facing as a result of its war in Ukraine.

And this comes at a critical time. We've seen gas prices already begin to tick up over the last month by about 10 cents per gallon. We're currently sitting at about $3.51 per gallon. A year ago, that was $4.20 per gallon, though. So Don, we will see exactly what the effect will be on gas prices. It's hard to predict.

But for now, at least, we're already seeing those crude oil prices beginning to surge as a reaction to this decision -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. Not something the U.S. wanted to see. Jeremy, thank you so much.

LEMON: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

HARLOW: All right. This morning, a tornado watch has been issued for portions of Southern Mississippi, Southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. This comes after a severe tornado outbreak killed at least 32 people across the South and the Midwest. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)!

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COLLINS: More than 50 tornadoes reportedly ripped through at least seven states, crushing homes, tearing roofs off buildings, and tossing around vehicles.

Our Derek Van Dam is live in Arkansas this morning, with more.

You have five deaths so far reported in Arkansas from these storms. What areas were the hardest hit?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Poppy. You know, so much heartache this morning, waking up across America. And we're in one of those areas where, unfortunately, a woman lost her life in the home, what used to be a home directly behind me.

You can see just nothing left. In fact, some of the trees completely spiral -- spiraled around themselves. In the distance there, you can see this vehicle. Just the windows completely smashed out.

The National Weather Service calling this an EF-3. That's winds of 165 mph. The Rolling Fork, Mississippi, tornado from over a week ago was 190 mph. So comparable.

But when you talk about the number of fatalities that have occurred so far this year in 2023, we've doubled. More than doubled what took place last year. And we are only entering the peak of the season.

I want you to listen to Jessie (ph) Wilson. She rode out this tornado as it ripped through her home. I want you to hear her harrowing account of what happened to her neighbors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSIE WILSON, SURVIVED TORNADO IN WYNNE, ARKANSAS: She was looking around. She was looking around, and then all of sudden, she said, Where's my mother? She said, Where's my mother? She said, I can't find my mama. She started calling, Mama, Mama! And she started calling her name.

And when they found her up under that board, she was smashed. She was dead. It was just horrible. Her daughter just started screaming and hollering. It was horrible. It was horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's her house?

WILSON: There's no house. Everything was just gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN DAM: It is so sad that that woman lost her life behind her. We're happy that Jessie is alive and well to tell that story.

You know, it is so important to pay attention to meteorologists as they warned these oncoming tornadoes, because right where I stand, and to the North as we head into the Midwest, another round of severe weather possible tomorrow. We're going to keep a very close eye to the sky -- Poppy, Don, Kaitlan.

HARLOW: Derek, thank you very much for that reporting from Arkansas.

Don.

LEMON: We're going to turn now to another train derailment, because crews in Western Montana are racing to clean up after a freight train derailed, sending at least 25 cars off the track.

Fire officials say it happened yesterday morning. Train cars tumbled down the hill and into a river there.

Officials say all the cars that reached the water were either empty or carrying Coors Light and Blue Moon. Investigators say there is no current threat to the public and that they're looking into what caused that derailment.

HARLOW: Those pictures.

[06:25:01]

LEMON: The -- Yes, amazing, right?

The indictment of former President Trump has already brought in millions to his reelection campaign. Millions of dollars. We have new CNN reporting on how he hopes to capitalize on his legal troubles.

COLLINS: Also Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has spouted conspiracy theories and heckled the president at the State of the Union, got the "60 Minutes" treatment last night. What she said about her past statements. We'll show you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A suspect is in custody this morning after Sunday's deadly blast in Russia. The moment of the explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe was caught on tape. It claimed the life of a prominent pro-Kremlin military blogger.

Matthew Chance live for us at CNN THIS MORNING in Moscow.

Matthew, good morning to you. What do we know?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, this military blogger who was very pro-war, Vladlen Tartasky. He's dead. There are something like 32 other people who are in hospital in St. Petersburg, the Russian city where this explosion took place.

Eight of them, according to Russian health officials, are in grave condition. You can see why when you look at those video -- that video of the cafe and its front being completely blown off by the force of the explosion.

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