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Today: Trump Set to Surrender and Face Criminal Charges; Judge Won't Allow Cameras to Broadcast Trump's Court Appearance; Sources: Chinese Spay Balloon Was Able to Transmit Data to Beijing. Aired 5- 5:30a ET

Aired April 04, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:28]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everyone. Today, it is early, we're on earlier because we are set to witness history. Donald Trump will become the first president to stand in front of a judge facing criminal charges. That's right.

Kaitlan is right there out front of the courthouse in Lower Manhattan where this will all happen -- Kaitlan.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, it's notable. The building behind me is 100 Center Street. That is the building where just hours from now, President -- former President Trump will enter as he surrenders to local authorities on charges related to business fraud. And the building next to it is where the grand jury has been meeting for the last several months before voting last Thursday, as we all know now to indict Trump, making him the first former president or sitting president to face charges. We'll have the latest details on what to expect.

And we're also following a lot of other news today. Let's get started with the five things that you need to know for this Tuesday, April 4th, 2023.

Donald Trump, as we noted, expected to be arraigned this afternoon before returning to Mar-a-Lago for a news conference later on. He added a new attorney to his defense team just yesterday.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: (AUDIO GAP) TV cameras in court, but still photographers will be allowed to take pictures before proceedings began. But no TV cameras inside.

Also today, 45 million Americans facing the threat of severe weather, including tornadoes, threat spans areas that were recently hard hit.

HARLOW: Also today, voters in Chicago head to the polls again to elect the city's next mayor. Election officials report that turnout in this runoff is far ahead of previous run-offs.

And to basketball. The UConn Huskies have done it again, winning their fifth. That's right, fifth, NCAA title and a strong win over San Diego State. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

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HARLOW: Very very, very good day.

LEMON: Yeah.

COLLINS: Good morning, everyone.

Today, we are going to witness -- yeah, a significant day. It's going to be historic, obviously, an unprecedented moment in our nation's history. I think it's good head start the counter on how many times that word will be uttered today.

Just hours from now, Donald Trump is set to turn himself in and become the first ex-president ever to face criminal charges. However, the American public will not be able to actually watch the historic court hearing live on television because the judge overnight and decided he will not allow cameras in the courtroom during that arraignment.

He will allow some photos before the proceedings actually begin. So, you will get to see some images of it. All of this is the spectacle began to unfold yesterday. Trump left Florida, he flew to New York City, arriving here in the afternoon and his playing at LaGuardia airport. You can see there. The motorcade, then escorted him to Trump Tower where he met with his legal team on the eve of his surrender.

This comes as we're learning that Trump's attorneys have advised him to stop attacking the prosecutor and the judge presiding over this case. That judge will be before today. He recently called the Manhattan district attorney animal and insisted the judge was biased against him, even suggesting overnight that Alvin Bragg should indict himself.

Trump has called for protests and warned that his arrest could lead to death and destruction. The mayor of New York City says right now, no credible threats to the city, but security has obviously been heightened at the courthouse. We can see police department officers just this morning, putting up additional barriers.

It's Mayor Adams is urging Trump supporters to be on their best behavior. The former president is set to speak at Mar-a-Lago tonight after his arraignment. His attorney says he does not expect the judge to issue a gag order, which would prevent the former president from speaking about this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE TACOPINA, ATTORNEY FOR FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: That would really. Set ablaze, the passions and the tempers that already have been inflamed by this case. You know, people view this as a political persecution. Imagine putting a gig on Donald Trump when he is the front runner for the Republican Party, the presidential office and imagine during the campaign, he's told, you know, I can't speak about the case. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: CNN's chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny is live outside Trump Tower.

Jeff, obviously, we have a sense of what today is going to look like. I heard one of Trump's attorneys said yesterday, they hope it all goes smoothly. What are you expecting to see?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kaitlan.

Former President Donald Trump, he did spend the night here at Trump tower. But today is going to do something that he has never done in all of his years that is surrender to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

[05:05:06]

Today is going to unfold actually, pretty on schedule. At least that's what his advisers say. He'll stop at the district attorney's office. He'll go to an arraignment. This proceeding is only scheduled to last but perhaps five or 10 minutes, and then he's scheduled to leave town. But the -- what happens in that short period time will certainly carry with him, throughout his presidential campaign.

He does arrive here in New York as the leading Republican presidential candidate. Of course, that hangs over all of this. But for all the spectacle that unfolded yesterday and is likely to unfold today as well, the former president, I'm told is taking this very seriously.

Of course, he hired a new lawyer yesterday. He will take the new lawyer with him. But one thing that he will learn today what is actually in the indictment. That is something I'm told that the former president talked with his advisers about last evening.

They have not seen these sealed indictments. So when the indictment is unsealed, they will see exactly what charges he is facing exactly what the grand jury has indicted him on.

But of course, after he leaves New York this afternoon, he's scheduled to go to Mar-a-Lago this evening to really give his defense and that is what his advisers are hoping he does. Let his lawyers do the talking here in New York, and then he will do the talking tonight at Mar-a-Lago.

And now, this is part of the presidential campaign is inextricably linked going forward, but in just a few hours, the former president will leave Trump Tower to begin on a path, but he's never been on before -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yeah. And we'll be watching it all, Jeff Zeleny, with you as well.

Don, quite a first day on the job for Todd Blanche, that new defense attorney that Trump is just added to his team.

LEMON: Yeah, what a day to be taking over Trump's defense. Kaitlan, stand by.

In a last minute shake up, Trump added new attorney that just Kaitlan just mentioned, to his legal on the eve of his surrender. He is a former federal prosecutor who once represented Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.

Let's discuss that and more with CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid. She joins us now.

Paula, good morning to you.

What do we know about this new attorney, Todd Blanche?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Very experienced white collar defense attorney. And while we described it as a shake up, I think you can also be described as the natural progression of things.

We're in a new phase of this case now, before this indictment, the big decisions that the former president's legal team needed to make our well should he go before the grand jury to testify, probably not a good idea. They made the right decision there. And then should we prosper own defense witness?

And they did ask for Attorney Robert Costello to go before the grand jury as a defense witness. That turned out to be a pretty good idea because that knocked prosecutors back on their heels, according to our reporting. They had to bring in some other witnesses to clean that up.

But now, it's a new stage, right? They're going to have to file motions. They're going to be hearings, potentially even a trial. So, Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina have been the attorneys up until now. Todd has now joined the team.

Some questions about what this means for Joe Tacopina because he has been really the most forward facing on the defense team, but well, I am told that he is definitely still on the team. He says he's going to be the lead attorney at the hearing today. Other people have said Todd will be the lead attorney. So we'll see.

I will note, though, Susan is the one who has been signing things that have been submitted to the judge.

LEMON: Oh, really?

REID: Yeah, we'll just -- we'll see. And again in fighting, you know, jockeying for position. That's nothing new on any legal team, especially Trump won.

HARLOW: So, yesterday, we were talking a lot with you about cameras, whether this judge who typically doesn't allow cameras in the courtroom would make an exception because, as you said, I think the word used yesterday was zenith. REID: I was quoting, but, yeah --

HARLOW: That's quoting us of the importance and but the judge said no, yeah, while, also recognizing how momentous and historic this is.

REID: It didn't look good after the former president's lawyers came in, and they opposed it. And they argued that there are security concerns. It would add to a circus like atmosphere.

But the most compelling argument, according to the judge's decision was that this would go against their client's presumption of innocence. That we will get still, photographs there are allowing still photographers in for a short period of time. There will also be a camera in the courtroom. So we'll get some access, but not what we are pushing for.

HARLOW: But you just said there will be a camera in the courtroom, as in not photographers, video, exactly.

REID: There are still photographers, so we will get a photo of this historic moment.

HARLOW: It's a record, right? There's a -- everything that's said is transcribed.

REID: Exactly. And there'll be dozens of reporters in there taking notes and they will be able to come out. I believe our colleague Kara Scannell will be in the courtroom when she comes out. She'll be able to share with us what she saw, but it's not the same as seeing it live, too.

HARLOW: This judge is right on the nose. What he is investigating is right on in line with what Trump is potentially going to be charged with, but he is overseeing. I should say.

REID: Yeah, exactly. He has historically seen other cases involving the Trump family, the Trump organization of former CFO Allen Weisselberg. So the judge has a lot of experience in Trump world and then Trump tactics, right.

HARLOW: Yeah, it's a good point.

LEMON: Paula, thank you so much.

Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yeah, a lot of experience in Trump world. Obviously, that has been something that Trump has said he believes because when he's claimed that this judge hates him, that is things that his legal team doesn't believe he should be saying before he goes before that judge today.

[05:10:05]

For perspective on all of this, I want to bring in CNN's senior legal analyst and former assistant U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, Elie Honig.

So, you know a thing or two about what we might see today, and you obviously worked with Trump's new attorney. So we'll talk about what you think about that last minute add in a moment. But on the indictments, you know, we talked about the logistics of what this will look like today.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Sure.

COLLINS: The indictment is going to be the biggest thing that we're going to see today as well. What are you looking for in it?

HONIG: Kaitlan, so much of what's going to happen today is known. What's going to happen inside that building is the same thing that happens to hundreds and hundreds of defendants every day.

COLLINS: We should note. This is the actual building --

HONIG: It will be in there.

COLLINS: -- that Trump will go in and surrender himself. He'll be on the 15th floor, in just a few hours.

HONIG: State Courthouse Building, everyday, people just streaming through those doors, they're processed, they're arraigned, they're advised of the charges against him. Sometimes they're released, sometimes, they're locked up. Trump will be released. That is all known.

The indictment remains almost completely unknown. We've been able to piece together some of it from reporting and from Michael Cohen and other people who've told us what they've said in the grand jury. The biggest thing I'm going to be looking for is, are there charges beyond business-related charges relating to the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, because if it's all based on business records relating to Stormy Daniels, that's going to leave the D.A. on shaky footing, because it's all going to turn on this one series of events.

I'm going to be looking for -- is there a surprise in there? Is there an X factor? Is there some type of charge that we have not seen or not expected?

COLLINS: And what about Karen McDougal? Because she is the other woman who's also alleged that she had an affair with Trump. She also received payment.

Do we think that that is going to be a factor in this indictment?

HONIG: So, we know there was testimony from David Pecker and other people who are involved in that. My big --

COLLINS: And, he's the publisher of "The National Enquirer".

HONIG: Right, of AMI, the company that owns "The National Enquirer".

My big question is, will they have freestanding charges relating to the McDougal payments? Or will they use those just to sort of flesh out the larger conspiracy and not them have -- have those payments as their own charges?

COLLINS: Yeah. And, of course, the big question is Trump adding this defense attorney Todd Blanche. I asked him and yesterday specifically as he added to the team, and they told me yesterday when he was added.

Laura or Paula was talking there about adding more firepower to the team. Obviously, it shows that they are taking this case seriously. But what does it say that he was added the day before Trump is arraigned?

HONIG: It shows a little bit of a lack of forethought. I mean, that's not a lot of time for Todd Blanche to get up to speed on this case. But I will tell you he is a very qualified attorney. We were prosecutors together two buildings down that way, federal prosecutors, different building, different jurisdiction.

But he's a trial lawyer. He knows what he's doing. He was used to prosecute violent crimes and gangs. He also prosecuted white collar crime.

And I should say, both Todd Blanche and I were colleagues with the current D.A. Alvin Bragg. We were all feds together a couple buildings now. So they know one another, which could have factored into the mix here.

The other thing to know about Todd Blanche is his style is completely opposite of what you see from a lot of Trump players. He's not blustery. He's not aggressive. He's thoughtful. He's a tactician. So there's going to be a real change on the legal team.

COLLINS: So, he's not a big TV attorney.

HONIG: You will not see him speaking on TV, I will predict.

COLLINS: Okay. Good, we'll see if that prediction plays out.

HONIG: All right.

COLLINS: Motions to dismiss, though, because that is something other Trump attorneys have said. They expect to happen pretty quickly after this. How quickly do you expect that? How does the judge see those?

HONIG: So that's the next big phase. Usually, a judge will set the deadline at the arraignment for when motions or do, but usually a judge will set that deadline for a couple of months out, because what you need first is called discovery, meaning the prosecutor has to turn over all their evidence to the defense. You need some time to go through that. And just sort of formulate your motions.

Now, if Trump's team is eager, they can file those motions as early as they want, but usually you'll be --

COLLINS: As early as today. HONIG: They will not be filing motions today. No today is just the arraignment. I mean, if they do, it's just for show. I've never heard of a defendant filing a motion to dismiss on the day of the arraignment.

COLLINS: Okay. We'll see what they choose to do.

Elie Honig, we're going to be watching it all together very closely today.

HONIG: Happy here with you.

COLLINS: Don and Poppy, obviously, it's notable just the fact that this is the building behind us where Trump will go in today. It's the building to the right of it where the grand jury is in meeting and then, of course, as Elie was noting, just a few doors down is where the SDNY offices.

LEMON: Yeah. Well, you know, Elie said he's never seen someone do it on the day of the arrangement. But you never know, this is the former president.

HARLOW: You don't know. But I think it was this weekend, Joe Tacopina, one of the main lawyers said on "STATE OF THE UNION", essentially, we're going to look at the charges first, before we put you know what kind of motion to dismiss. We're going to put forward.

LEMON: Okay, Kaitlan, standby.

HARLOW: So let's talk about security preps right here in New York City. Quote: No credible threats to our city. That is what Mayor Eric Adams said ahead of this arrangement of Trump in just a few hours.

He also had this message for Trump supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, a message is clear and simple: control yourselves.

Not a playground for your misplaced anger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Direct.

HARLOW: Can't get more clear than that, right?

So let's talk to former deputy director of the FBI, CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe.

[05:15:05]

Good morning, Andy.

Are you worried? I don't feel worried. I feel like New York's got it under control.

LEMON: Cautiously optimistic.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: Yeah. Yeah, I feel the same way you guys do. I really don't think we were going to see much today in the way of unrest or civil disobedience. You know, there's really no place on Earth better prepared for an event like this, the New York city and it's got some stark difference from what we saw here in the D.C. area on January 6th.

So New York have 35,000 police officers that can be summoned and dispatched on a moment's notice. We know from reporting that those folks are already authority on call and in uniform ready to go today. We also know that New York has incredible experience control -- in massive crowd control events, everything from the U.N. general assembly, which is you guys know shuts down New York, basically, every year when all the diplomats are in town, to things like the New Year's Eve celebration, political convention. So they know how to do crowd control better than anywhere else.

Compare that to Washington, D.C. where Washington is basically a patchwork of different jurisdictions with multiple different, mostly federal police agencies that all own separate pieces of turf. You have the Park Police. You have the Capitol Police. You have the Metropolitan Police Department, which is basically the city at large, and all those different entities are much smaller, and they all have to work in sync with each other.

Not the situation in New York, where the NYPD owns the entire the entire island of Manhattan there and the other five boroughs, and I'm quite confident they'll be able to keep things under control.

LEMON: I'm interested in what you think about this about the mayor, warning about the spread of misinformation directed specifically at one congresswoman.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAMS: And although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech -- she stated she is coming to town.

While you're in town, be on your best behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Okay, so you heard what he said there. There won't be cameras in the courtroom. Do you think that a warning like that, and no cameras at that? Is that going to limit the misinformation or is that going to encourage it?

MCCABE: You know, it's a bold move to call someone anyone out specifically in a message like that. You know, folks who are speaking out provocatively on social media and, you know, really kind of fanning the flames, they're seeking that sort of attention, and I do think that there is a danger by calling Marjorie Taylor Greene or anybody else out specifically, you're essentially giving them the spotlight and the platform that they seek.

So we'll see how that works out. I doubt that it's going to cause her to, you know, rein her language in any.

I think that also not having the video coverage in the courtroom, it's normal. There isn't typically video coverage in Manhattan arraignment court, but in this case, I think having video live coverage of exactly what's happening could potentially be helpful in dispelling the myths and misinformation that will likely be all over social media as soon as this is concluded.

So that I think was an opportunity lost. It's the judge's discretion, obviously, and so I guess we'll have to make do with still photographs.

HARLOW: I mean, this is about the argument to the bigger argument about cameras in the Supreme Court. That's been an argument for a long time, and this judge noted the populace rightly hungers for the most accurate and current information available to suggest otherwise would be disingenuous, but still he's not allowing them. So, well, I mean, people are going to have to read the transcript if they really want to know every word.

LEMON: I was surprised also on the Marjorie Taylor Greene thing yesterday when I heard the mayor, I was watching live and the mayor said that. I was surprised.

HARLOW: That he said her name?

LEMON: That he said her name, that he gave her that attention and that spotlight, Andy. I agree with you. Are you surprised that he mentioned her?

MCCABE: Yeah, it really was. I mean, and like I said, it's contrary to the typical way that you try to -- when you're trying to kind of spin things down, you want to -- you want to project a very calm, kind of image of. Hey, we have this under control and really not point out any particular provocateur.

You don't want to kind of push someone into first place in terms of, hey, this is the -- this is the person most likely to set things off. Let's listen to her. I think it has potentially a very, you know, counterproductive effect on the situation, but you know what? Well, what's try not to prejudge it. We'll see how it goes.

LEMON: Yeah, let's see. Fingers crossed.

Thank you. Andy McCabe joining us 20 after the hour at this very --

HARLOW: After the 5:00 a.m. hour.

LEMON: Yeah, don't tell, people think it's six or seven.

Thank you, Andy. We appreciate it.

HARLOW: Thank you.

LEMON: Our special coverage of historic arrangement of former President Donald Trump continues. We're also following other news, including new details about the Nashville elementary school shooting.

[05:20:05]

What police are learning about the attackers' possible motive?

HARLOW: We also do have this update on that Chinese spy balloon that flew across the United States, where it was actually gathering information and who was receiving it, ahead.

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[05:24:24]

HARLOW: Well, three Democratic state lawmakers may lose their seats in the Tennessee legislature for staging a protest against gun violence on the statehouse floor last Thursday. CNN affiliate WSMV reports that lawmakers have already lost their committee assignments for that. Their participation in these protests at the state capitol days after the mass shooting at Covenant Elementary School in Nashville.

Meantime, we're also learning new details this morning about the shooting that left three adults and three 9-year-old children dead. You will remember the shooter identified as former student of that school. Audrey Hale entered by shooting through a glass side door to get into the school.

[05:25:01]

Well, Nashville police say that Hale fired 152 rounds in this attack, most of them from an assault rifle.

Officials have not yet determined a motive, but they say the writings Hale left behind the attack was, quote, calculated and planned over a period of months, and they say that Hale acted totally alone after studying the actions of other mass murderers. Police add that Hale was firing through a window at patrol cars as they pulled up. They also say two responding officers killed Hale exactly 14 minutes after that attack began.

LEMON: New this morning, China's foreign ministry spokesperson says the country resolutely opposes visit to the U.S. by Taiwan's president and her planned meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy set for tomorrow. All this as sources tell CNN that the Chinese spy balloon that floated across the U.S. a few weeks ago -- a few months ago, I should say -- was able to capture images and radio signals from American military sites and send them back to Beijing in real time.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand live at the Pentagon for us this morning.

Good morning, Natasha.

How concerned is the U.S. intelligence community about the spy balloons and their capabilities?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Don. Well, the U.S. intel community says that it's not overly concerned because they believe that this by balloon was not able to capture images and collect signals intelligence in a way that was a lot more sophisticated, say then Chinese satellites do every day. But at the same time, we are learning that the U.S. government still doesn't know whether or not that spy balloon which, of course, the U.S. now has in its custody was able to basically have its data erased by the Chinese government.

And that raises a lot of questions, of course. About whether it collected intelligence and captured images that the U.S. simply does not know about at this point. Now we are told that the FBI is still conducting its investigation, but ultimately, you know, it raises questions about whether when this balloon was passing over the sensitive military sites, it was able to capture imagery and then send it back to Beijing. In real time, we're told, and then Beijing was able to kind of delete that data.

Now Sabrina Singh, who is the deputy pentagon press secretary, she said that the balloon's trajectory over the U.S. was, in fact, very deliberate, of course, raising more questions about what kind of intelligence the balloon was trying to gather. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SABRINA SINGH, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY, DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: We do know that the balloon was able to be maneuvered and purposely driven along its track, but not going to get into specific sites. It was able to hover over but what we did do is take precautionary steps to limit the intelligence value that it would be able to collect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: So that is what the intel community and what U.S. officials are emphasizing here that they kind of knew the path of balloon was going to take and they were able to minimize any potential intelligence value that the balloon could then gather, Don.

LEMON: All right, Natasha, thank you so much.

HARLOW: Well, the American journalists arrested in Russia is now filing an appeal as United States continues to push for his release. What we're learning at this hour.

COLLINS: Also, former President Trump is waking up this morning to a new reality. There he is inside Trump Tower and now said to appear inside a court as a criminal defendant. The legal intricacies that could make or break the case ahead.

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