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Sen. John Fetterman Gives Interview after Being Treated for Depression; Former President Trump to Travel to Manhattan Courtroom for Recent Indictment; Trump Attorney Alina Habba Interviewed on Former President Trump's Indictment. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): It makes me sad, the day that I go it was my son's birthday. And I hope that for the rest of his life his birthday would be joyous, and you don't have to remember that your father was admitted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And lawmakers up here on Capitol Hill have been so supportive of Senator Fetterman receiving treatment. They say that they are excited for him to return back to Washington to get back to work. You can expect that his colleagues here are going to continue to support him as he continues to recover. Poppy?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It was such a brave interview for him to give and so rare to see a sitting senator open up like that. Lauren Fox, thank you very much.

CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning, everyone. Right now former President Trump is preparing to head to New York City shortly as he is expected to surrender tomorrow and appear in court to face criminal charges.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Trump's legal team vowing to challenge every potential issue with the Manhattan district attorney's case once the indictment is unsealed and we find out the actual charges. One of Trump's attorneys is going to join us live in just moments, there she is. we'll see her in just a moment here on CNN.

HARLOW: Also, we've learned that Trump is planning to give a speech just hours after he is arraigned. We'll break down all of the plans for what, again, will be a historic day.

COLLINS: And we are expecting it all to get started about four hours from now, and former President Trump is set to fly here to New York to LaGuardia Airport as he is preparing to turn himself in and face those criminal charges tomorrow. You can see his plane here still in West Palm Beach. That's what he will get on in just about four hours from now before taking that flight. We're told he's expected to leave around noon. That means he would be in New York around 3:00 this afternoon.

Sources tell CNN that at times, Trump was calm over the weekend despite, of course, his team now admitting they were shocked initially by the indictment when it came down on Thursday. Over the weekend, Trump reportedly played golf, talked to his political allies, and discussed ways to use the criminal charges to boost his 2024 presidential campaign.

CNN's senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is here with us now. Obviously, we've seen the way that he has been fundraising off of this. They said they've raked in about $5 million, according to his team. Of course, we've actually seen that in an FEC report. But when it comes to what we are going to see when it comes to the legal merits today and tomorrow, what are you hearing the latest?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So right now there is a big push from CNN and other media organizations for transparency here. We are pushing to have this indictment unsealed today. Usually, indictments unsealed during an initial appearance, during the arraignment, so that would be tomorrow. But right now, we don't know what the actual charges are in this case.

There is also a push to get cameras inside the courtroom. Historically this judge has not been in favor of that. But we have argued along with other media organizations, there is no greater public interest than having transparency in a case like this.

One thing I thought was interesting, though, is I reached out to the former president's legal team last night to say, hey, you guys want cameras in the courtroom, right? I didn't hear back, so I'm really curious to watch. They have until 1:00 p.m. today, prosecutors or defense, to launch any objections with the judge that they have cameras in the courtroom. So I'm really curious to see if anybody has any objections.

LEMON: John Miller said moments ago on the air here he thought it would cut down on the chaos and it was actually would give it more transparency and less of a circus like atmosphere.

REID: Exactly, and maybe more trust in the process, particularly when you have so many people believing in conspiracy theories.

COLLINS: Paula Reid, thank you.

HARLOW: Shimon and I were just talking about what we're going to talk about here. So Shimon, let's just start with that, because one of the big questions is, what are the setups in terms of security?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. So when you look at the security for tomorrow, there's going to be the court system is really in charge of what's going on inside the courtroom. So it's the court officers. Obviously, the NYPD, a lot of their responsibility is going to fall on what's happening outside, potential protests, securing that area. And then the Secret Service. This is something, obviously, very new. We've never had someone under Secret Service protection have to go inside the courtroom and face charges. So the Secret Service will be there.

So this all starts, Poppy, tonight when later this afternoon, when the former president arrives. He's going to be at the LaGuardia Airport late this afternoon. Then he goes to Trump Tower. And then, obviously, tomorrow is the big day when he's going to appear at the Manhattan D.A.'s office, and then the Manhattan criminal court.

And then when you look at the motorcade route, we're going to go from Trump Tower all the way to the Manhattan criminal courthouse. That's going to probably take about 30 minutes or so. He's expected there sometime late morning early afternoon, as folks refer to as appointment arrest. He will be arrested. Once he walks through the doors of the D.A.'s office, he's going to be arrested.

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He's going to walk through those doors, surrender, and at that point he's taken into custody by the district attorney's office.

HARLOW: No handcuffs, because they don't need them. He's surrounded by Secret Service, federal agents, fingerprinted like normal, maybe not a mug shot, which would be normal to have a mug shot.

PROKUPECZ: Right, there's a lot of concern over this mug shot, of it leaking. It's really against the law in New York state to release mug shots for someone who's arrested, so there's a lot of concern over leaking. And there's really kind of no point in taking his marching. Everyone knows what he looks like. Is he going to flee? I mean, obviously not. So the fingerprinted very normal. He's going to go through the D.A.'s office upstairs, and then the arrest process begins. They're going to do the all the reports that they need to file.

And then what happens is really he just he just waits, and then he goes to the courtroom, and that's when we start to see --

HARLOW: But there are unknowns, like is he going to stop and address people outside of Trump Tower today? Is he going to do that tomorrow before he leaves? Is he going to do that in front of the courthouse before or after the arraignment? How do these officers prepare for the unknown right?

PROKUPECZ: Right, that's the difficulty with the former president. The Secret Service, obviously the NYPD, everyone plans for stops. Everyone plans for what happens. It's hard to tell because he's always goes off script.

The thing is, right now, what they're really concentrating on is what happens inside the courthouse. And so we know he's going to be on the 15th floor where the courtroom is there. Right now that floor is shut off to the public. People can't go up to that floor as they prepare because of security. And then we're going to likely see the former president escorted down the hallway for cameras to see. Normally that shot is of someone walking in handcuffs. They're in custody. They're wearing handcuffs. In this case, obviously, the former president will not be wearing handcuffs, and they will escort him into the courtroom.

And then the big question is, will we get to see him inside the courtroom cameras with the cameras.

HARLOW: With the cameras. We should know decision today, right?

PROKUPECZ: Hopefully today. This judge is known for not allowing cameras in court, but given the gravity of this situation here, I think it's likely that we will see. he's waiting to hear from the defense attorneys and the D.A. on what they want him to do, and obviously I think they will allow it. So it's certainly going to be an interesting 24 hours.

HARLOW: Shimon, thank you, appreciate it. Don?

LEMON: Let's talk about all of that and more. The perfect person to have on now is Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba. She represents the former president in several ongoing civil cases, but is not a part of his criminal defense team dealing with this indictment in New York. Alina, thank you so much. We appreciate you coming on this morning.

ALINA HABBA, ATTORNEY FOR FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you for having me.

LEMON: So let's start where they left off. The former president, or his legal team, do you support the transparency of having cameras in the courtroom?

HABBA: I think it depends. I think this this whole rigmarole, really, for lack of better words has been through leaks, which I don't appreciate as an attorney. I think that transparency is very important. I'm going to leave that decision to the criminal team. But as somebody who has represented the president in court, I like transparency. I think that in certain situations, it's a good thing. I do have a problem with leaking of pictures. I think that it's, because we're in a campaign, because he's the leading GOP candidate, it's not going to help anything. But I know that he'll be transparent.

LEMON: You're talking about the possibility, you're talking about the possibility of a mugshot. You would prefer not to have a mugshot of the former president, is that what you're saying, Alina.

HABBA: I don't see a purpose in it. The reality is, like the person prior mentioned, mug shots are for people so that you recognize who they are. He is the most recognized face in the world, let alone the country right now, so there's no need for that. There's no need for the theatrics, no.

LEMON: Does the former president, and do you, do the legal team, do they -- the unsealing of the document, do you support that? Does he support that?

HABBA: I think it will happen no matter what. I would like to see what the basis is for this. Let's remember that the real crime here that we have is that D.A. Bragg did leak that there were 30 to 34 counts. We already know that that in itself is a felony. You are not to let that go. So at this point -- and I like everybody in this country --

LEMON: Alina, we don't know if the D.A. leaked that information. That is speculation.

HABBA: We don't have that information. So -- it's not speculation. We don't have that information. So it came from their office.

LEMON: So your client has attacked the judge in this case, posting online that the judge hates him, that he was handpicked by Bragg and the prosecutors, and that he railroaded and strongarmed Allen Weisselberg. Why would he do that?

HABBA: I think that's a fact. I think that we have many judges, frankly, and I'm before some of them who have shown a venomous vitriol against President Trump that is like nothing we've ever seen in the state of New York. In practicing for as many years as I have, I've never seen cases move so fast unless there Donald Trump. I've never seen lopsided discovery issues.

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And I think he has a serious concern. I think that's how he feels, and he has a right to voice that. It's a First Amendment right.

LEMON: Considering what happened with January 6th, as you know, there's a concern about unrest here. Last week, the former president called on his supporters to protest the indictment. He raised the possibility of quote, I'm quoting here, death and destruction over this case. Former Manhattan, D.A. Cy Vance, who previously investigated the former president Trump, said that Trump's statements about Alvin Bragg about in court could strengthen this case against him. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CY VANCE, FORMER MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I would be mindful of not committing some other criminal offense like obstruction of government administration, which is interfering with, by threat or otherwise, the operation of government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The advice that his legal team is giving him about his rhetoric around this case?

HABBA: My advice to him is that he has every right that every other American has. If he wants to speak out, if he wants to encourage people to protest peacefully, I think that is a right that the president has and that I have and that you have, Don. And I think that the reality of the situation is I would ask you, why is it not a problem for BLM to protest and encourage protests, but it's a problem when it's Donald Trump? I think we need to look at the double standard in this country. It is

ruining this country, and I'm sure you love this country as much as I do. We need to look at injustice, the fact that he is leading in the polls, the fact that he is the first president to get indicted for something that we think will be books and records in front of a woke D.A. who has literally has -- went from 9 percent DUIs being missed to over 50 percent. This is who we're dealing with. But when it's Donald Trump, he's flipping it.

LEMON: Alina, I have just a short time with you. I would love to just stick to --

HABBA: -- CNN politics or FOX, but --

LEMON: I would love to just stick to the facts in this because there's a lot to deal with. There are a number of legal cases against your client, so let's just stick to the facts here.

HABBA: Sure, let's.

LEMON: Another lawyer for Trump, Joe Tacopina, said that he'd be filing a motion to dismiss, but he's also preparing to challenge every potential issue. Is this strategy, you think, throwing everything against the wall, do you think that is what is going on just to see what sticks here? What is happening?

HABBA: No. I think it's the same thing that D.A. Bragg is doing with his 30 to 34 counts of garbage. I think we have to fight everyone --

LEMON: But how can you dismiss when you don't know what's in it?

HABBA: I think we do know what's in it. We know that this was based on Stormy Daniels. We know that this was dismissed by the FEC and this was dismissed by federal prosecutor seven years ago. We know what's in it. It's a bunch of garbage.

LEMON: But even Karen McDougal was brought up recently. There were other people who went in as witnesses to deal with other things other than Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal and so on. So we don't know exactly what is in it. So why would you or any of the legal team, any member of the legal team saying we're going to get this dismissed when they don't actually know what's in the indictment?

HABBA: Because even if Karen McDougal is in there, Don, that is also garbage. That is something that is age-old and that is garbage. This is an extortion situation that he had his lawyer handle. I don't even know if he knew about it at the time. I don't believe he did. So a lawyer settles an extortion claims, gets an NDA signed, and somehow he's getting indicted. The facts are the facts. We have a woke D.A. who is now bringing a misdemeanor, stacking it, and trying to make it a felony. That's a fact and we're going to fight it.

LEMON: I want to turn now to the DOJ case in the classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. This is according to "The Washington Post." "The Washington Post" is saying that "federal investigators have gathered new and significant evidence that after the subpoena was delivered that Trump looked through the content of some of the boxes of documents in his home, apparently out of a desire to keep certain things in his possession." Do you know whether he reviewed certain classified documents after receiving the subpoena?

HABBA: No, I have nothing to do with that case. I do not know.

LEMON: You don't know if he -- because you actually looked through some of the documents, correct?

HABBA: No, that's inaccurate. I did a search for the attorney general case.

LEMON: You looked at it -- but you looked at the office in the residence and you did not see any documents?

HABBA: No, I wasn't looking for classified documents, no. And I think you could read my affidavit. It's public record. No, I was looking for tax documents, another garbage case by Letitia James.

LEMON: OK, so in response to a request for a separate legal matter, the attorney general, Letitia James that you just brought up, you swore that on May 5th, 2022, that you diligently searched respondent's personal office, meaning Donald Trump's, located at Mar-a-Lago, including all desks, drawers, file cabinets, et cetera. Six days later, the DOJ with subpoena Trumper classified documents. If you did a diligent search, Alina, wouldn't you have seen the trove of classified documents that were eventually found there?

HABBA: No, because if you look at the scope of what I did and what I was looking for, it was not classified documents, and it had nothing to do with this case. I was looking for tax documents.

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LEMON: Okay, so even if they were there, you don't think that you would have recognized them? Is that what you're saying?

HABBA: I don't know, but I know that I'm not in a deposition right now and I'm not going to continue with this conversation, but if you'd like to talk about what's currently happening, such as our corrupt system with AGs and our corrupt system with DA's, and how they should all be brought in front of Congress and answer questions. Happy to talk about that.

LEMON: Okay, Alina, listen, with all due respect, we have you here. You're representing the Trump legal team, the former President is in these series of legal threats right now, including, the hush money payments, DOJ classified documents, the Georgia election, the DOJ January 6th probe, and you're here to answer those questions. So in those, this is not a deposition. I'm just asking you questions on television respectfully.

So if we could just stick to the facts.

HABBA: Yes. Oh, we can stick to the facts, Don, but what you're asking me is something that's unrelated to the Mar-a-Lago case, it was for Letitia James' case and I signed an affidavit and it's very public, I recommend you read it.

LEMON: Okay.

You testified to the grand jury, though, in this case. What's the sense of where that stands? You did testify to the grand jury in this case.

HABBA: Yes, that's not a secret, I testified to the grand jury.

LEMON: So I want you to stand by Alina, because we have our Paula Reid here who has been following this as well, and she is to weigh in on some of the questions. Stand by.

What do you have, Paula? What do you want to say?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so I think you're seeing part of the defense strategy, right? It sounds like Alina Habba is making a lot of the arguments in the court of public opinion, which is to attack the District Attorney, which is to say it's his First Amendment right to attack the Judge, which certainly it is, but I don't think any attorney would suggest that's a good idea for their client.

And as Alina just noted, she has testified as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into Mar-a-Lago, though she does not represent him in this case, you make a good point that there have been a lot of lawyers who have searched for various documents at one point in time, and there are a lot of questions about why classified documents keep showing up, even though the former President has been out of office for so -- for so long now.

But in terms of all these cases coming together, I mean, there is a question, how will this indictment in Manhattan impact the other investigations the former President is currently facing?

So, I think all of those questions are fair, but I did want to circle back. My IFB was not working. Was Alina able to answer the question about whether they want cameras in the courtroom?

LEMON: Yes. She said she is for full transparency.

REID: Right.

LEMON: Alina, do you want to respond to what Paula just said?

HABBA: On the question of if they'll have cameras in the courtroom? That's the criminal -- you know, there's a criminal team and they'll decide that.

LEMON: On the connection of how this affects other cases?

HABBA: How this affects other -- I don't think it affects other cases. I think each case is different, I would hope so. I don't think one case should affect the other. LEMON: Alina Habba, thank you for appearing on CNN THIS MORNING.

Thank you so much.

HABBA: Thank you.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: The 2024 Republican field for President just got a little bit bigger, Asa Hutchinson throwing his hat into the ring, and he is calling for the frontrunner to step aside.

We will ask the former Arkansas Governor why he decided to run, next.

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HARLOW: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson made news over the weekend as the latest Republican to announce he is running for President.

He joins Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy, and his announcement comes as the Republican Party is grappling with news of Trump's indictment. At a time when much of the GOP is rallying around Trump, Hutchinson is calling for him to drop out of this race after being indicted, and he joins me now, the former Governor of Arkansas, and 2024 presidential candidate.

Good morning, Governor, and thanks again.

ASA HUTCHINSON (R), FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning. It's great to be with you this morning.

HARLOW: Obviously, my thoughts -- all of our thoughts to the people of Arkansas, five dead after the horrible, tragic weather over the weekend. So, we're thinking about all of them.

Let's start with Trump, and then we'll quickly move on to the actual issues that people will be judging you on.

You have said that you don't believe Trump should be in this race anymore because he has been indicted.

Do you see this as the beginning of the end for Trump politically?

HUTCHINSON: Not necessarily. There's a presumption of innocence that goes with him as any criminal defendant is charged, but I said that he should step aside simply because there is -- that more guards should be given to the Office of Presidency than any individual person and their concerns, but he's not -- but he is not going to step aside, if he going to get to decide on this, and I'm okay with that. The voters should decide this.

But that's just a principle that I followed through my public career event that the office is more important than the individual who is seeking it. HARLOW; You were a former prosecutor, former US Attorney, actually

and I thought it was really interesting that following Trump's indictment, you said: "We don't want to erode confidence in our entire criminal justice system simply because we don't like the beginning parts of a case."

It puts you in stark contrast to almost all of your fellow Republicans in office who have been slamming this investigation before knowing the facts, and slamming the District Attorney, Bragg, and I wonder why you think they're wrong to do that?

HUTCHINSON: Well, I look at our criminal justice system, and it is really the hallmark of our democracy. It is the rule of law. You look at China, you look at Mexico, you look at so many countries, and there is corruption. It's unreliable.

And so our rule of law sets the United States apart. And while we have flaws in it, it always need to be corrected and adjusted, everything we do should not be undermining our system. And so, there's thousands of people that are charged every day, some are acquitted of those charges, and the system works. And ultimately, a jury decides these issues.

So if I was a prosecutor, I would not have brought this case, because I don't think it measures up based upon the facts that I know now, but let's let the facts come out.

HARLOW: Yes.

HUTCHINSON: People can make their judgment on this and ultimately, the system is going to work.

HARLOW: We don't know the facts.

So let's move on to some of the key issues. Obviously, the tragic school shooting in Nashville just a week ago, today, you lead the NRA's response to Sandy Hook and that massacre at that elementary school and assessing what could be done differently.

So far this year, there have been more mass shootings than days in the year, guns are the leading cause of death now for young Americans, and Arkansas has the fifth highest rate of firearm deaths in the country.

I wonder if you agree with your Republican colleagues who have said in the past few weeks that Congress has essentially done all it's going to do on guns.

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HUTCHINSON: Well, I think they are expressing it correctly that we look at the challenge of firearms in the schools, and we need to have improved security, we need to continue to invest in that, and also the mental health counseling that is important in our schools and identifying those that might be a threat. And so that's the approach that I think is constitutional, and there being a political reality as well that there was a bipartisan bill that was passed led by Senator Cornyn and that passed this last session, so, I don't expect any additional action that's been taken.

But let's continue as we have in Arkansas. We've invested in school safety. We had our own Commission. We looked at how we can support our local schools and increase in the safety.

It's tragic what happened in Nashville. That was a private school, and I hope that the families will have all the compassion that is appropriate under these circumstances, our heart goes out to them.

HARLOW: You're talking about school security, I will just note there were armed guards at both Parkland and Uvalde, and still this happened. I wonder if you become the Republican nominee. And if you were to be elected President, would you sign a national law raising the age to purchase an AR-15 to 21? Because you yourself floated the idea last year?

HUTCHINSON: I think that -- I mean, if Congress came into the consensus on that, that's something that can be looked at, and so I'm open to that. Yes. Whenever you look at the bipartisan bill that passed, they approached it a different way, which was to enhance the background check information that can look at additional records to assure somebody that wasn't violent as a juvenile would have access as soon as they turned 18.

So they approached it that way, that should provide additional protections. Every time we have a school incident, we should be looking at those facts as to how we can close a gap or we can improve the circumstances to protect our children better.

HARLOW: I want to talk about the issue of abortion because last year you told my colleague, Dana Bash on this network that if Roe vs. Wade were overturned, Arkansas' near total ban on abortion should be revisited and provide exceptions for rape and incest, which does not provide in the current law that you signed as Governor.

Well, Roe vs. Wade has been overturned. So if you were President, would you sign any legislation that would codify protections for abortion for victims of rape or incest?

HUTCHINSON: Well, the answer is yes, I would, if that came to my desk. At the same time, when Roe vs. Wade was reversed, it returned the authority to the States and the States now can govern it.

So Arkansas makes its healthcare decisions legislatively; but Mississippi, New Hampshire, Iowa, every State will make their own decision under the current law and the reversal of Roe versus Wade. It's a State prerogative and you'll see different decisions made.

HARLOW: That's right, unless Congress were to codify protections nationally.

Let me -- and that's what I was asking.

HUTCHINSON: Let me just emphasize --

HARLOW; Yes. HUTCHINSON: I do support those three exceptions, rape and incest and

life of the mother.

HARLOW: I appreciate you clarifying that. Let me ask you two final quick things, sir. Why do you want to be President?

HUTCHINSON: I want to be President because I've had a history of public service. When the country is in challenging times, I want to be able to offer my experience and my vision for a greater America.

I believe that a President should call on bringing out America and not call on his worst instincts. That's the kind of leadership that I believe is important, that I can offer for this country. Let's bring out the best of our country.

My experience solving border challenges, immigration issues, National Security issues, reducing taxes in Arkansas, a consistent conservative record that I can bring to the leadership of this country. I believe that's important and a message that is optimistic for our country's future.

HARLOW: You were head of the DEA, next time we have you on, we'll talk about the opioid crisis.

Finally, what do you think your greatest weakness is?

HUTCHINSON: Well, perhaps I'm not as exciting as some candidates that are out there. I don't throw bombs and torches all the time. But I am consistent. I have a track record that's important and I have a vision for America, for border security, for the fentanyl crisis, and so things that we can bring people together. I think that's a great characteristic and history that I bring.

HARLOW: Well, it says something about the times to consider not throwing bombs or torches of weakness.

Governor, we appreciate you. Please come back so we can talk about many of the other issues.

HUTCHINSON: Thanks so much. Good to be with you today.

HARLOW: Good to have you. Don.

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