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U.S. Investigating Leak of Classified Docs about Ukraine War; DOJ Appeals Judge's Ruling to Halt FDA Approval of Abortion Pill; Nashville Council May Vote to Reinstate Ousted Rep. Austin Jones; Suspect Arrested after Stabbing NJ Imam During Ramadan Prayers; Texas Governor Seeks to Pardon Man Convicted of Killing BLM Protester. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 10, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:08]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR:: All right. Thanks for joining me. I'm Christine Romans on "EARLY START" this Monday morning. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Oof.

You're --

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Look at me.

LEMON: You're dressed for Easter.

HARLOW: Spring has come. Easter was here. It's Sienna's seventh birthday today. Things are --

LEMON: Happy birthday.

HARLOW: Things are good.

Happy belated to you. Did you have a good one on Friday?

LEMON: Yes, you had one? A little party. You're matching the mood here. Your name and the spring, Poppy.

HARLOW: Great. We're so glad you're with us. I'm clearly in a great mood.

LEMON: Yes, I know.

HARLOW: Good morning, everyone.

LEMON: Hopefully, that goes for all of us.

HARLOW: Let's get started. I'm going to make it so. Let's get started with five things to know for this Monday, April 10, 2023.

The Department of Justice has appealed a federal judge's ruling halting the FDA's approval of a widely-used abortion pill. This case will likely head now soon to the Supreme Court.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Also, the Pentagon is now investigating a leak of what appears to be classified intelligence when it comes to Russia and the war in Ukraine. The alleged documents reveal spying efforts on Russia and U.S. allies.

Also today, Nashville's city council is set to hold a meeting to discuss potentially reappointing Justin Jones to his House seat. Jones and his colleague, Justin Pearson, were expelled last week for breaking rules during a gun protest.

LEMON: A first for Rutgers University, the faculty going on strike today for the first time in the school's 256-year history, workers demanding better pay and job security.

And the green jackets club has its newest member, Jon Rahm. Finishing 12 under to win his first ever Masters.

Nobody wearing green this morning this morning?

COLLINS: No.

LEMON: CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

COLLINS: Just 28 years old. I loved watching the Masters this Sunday.

LEMON: So crazy.

COLLINS: It's so fun. It's like soothing to me to, like, listen to.

LEMON: I think it's a -- I mean, it's the announcers, and it's the colors. Everything is so green. Except for the rain. It was a little nuts.

COLLINS: Yes, Saturday.

LEMON: But it's like and he's on -- whatever, and it's a par six. And you're like, Oh, this is kind of --

COLLINS: It was really clear he was going to win --

LEMON: Yes.

COLLINS: -- from like, right, but they're the final round. It was pretty clear that he had overtaken the lead with Brooks Koepka. It was awesome to watch.

LEMON: Obviously, congratulations to him, but a lot of people -- congratulations. We'll let that play out. But you know, everyone's talking about Tiger, right?

COLLINS: Yes.

LEMON: Having to drop out and what this means. Look at that. Very nice. Very nice.

HARLOW: I love when his wife and baby come up.

LEMON: Very nice, very nice.

COLLINS: Those two kids were there. They were so cute.

HARLOW: Cute.

LEMON: Somehow we didn't get any food from the Masters. I thought we were promised it by Don Riddell.

HARLOW: He's probably sending some to us.

LEMON: We'll chat with him about that.

HARLOW: And a lot happened over the weekend, especially on the national security front. Because the Pentagon this morning is scrambling to try to find out how these highly-classified documents about the war in Ukraine and a lot else leaked onto social media, photos of those documents.

If you can believe, it looks like they were posted last month. We're only learning about it now. The documents are filled with U.S. intelligence. It could be valuable to Russian commanders, including Ukrainian troop numbers and weaknesses as they gear up for a major counter offensive.

This leaked set of documents also give us a glimpse into how the United States spies on its own allies, like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Our CNN national security reporter Natasha Bertrand has reported this out all weekend; joins us from the Pentagon. There's so much stunning before we get to how this got there for so long unnoticed. What's key about what's in it?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, a ton of highly highly classified top-secret information in these documents that include information about the U.S. spying on South Korea, Israel, other allies, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as information on how the U.S. spies on our enemies and new information on just the depth of the intelligence and the penetration that you had -- U.S. has of the Russian defense ministry, as well as the Russian mercenary organization, Wagner group, which of course, is carrying out operations inside Ukraine.

So this is very sensitive information that the U.S. never wanted even its friends to know about. And it's already sparking outrage in places like Israel because of one document that says that the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, was egging on Israeli protesters, something that the Mossad has vigorously denied. So this could cause a lot of friction between the U.S. and its allies.

And importantly, it could cause some sources to go dark, because the documents, which are again top-secret, they do describe how the U.S. has been able to eavesdrop and listen in on Russian officials, as well as Wagner officials. [06:05:03]

And of course, it has sensitive information about Ukrainian combat deployments that has information on their training schedules, as well as a timeline for when weapons will get there.

So all of this extremely concerning to U.S. officials, Poppy.

HARLOW: So obviously, the U.S. has a lot of repair work to do here with its allies and these key relationships. How do they begin to do that while, at the same time, trying to get to the source of how this was leaked to leaked it and how on earth it went unnoticed for weeks online?

BERTRAND: Well, Poppy, the U.S. has already started to do some damage control. The Department of Defense released a statement last night, saying that they have been in touch with U.S. allies on this issue, tried to, basically, do damage assessments, along with those allies, to try to figure out whether any sources and methods have been burned here; what kind of intelligence may not be usable now; and what may be, you know, valuable for U.S. enemies, and so they have made those calls.

They're also in touch with Congress, the relevant congressional committees, who are going to be looking into this very closely. But look, this is -- all has been online for over a month now without anyone noticing. It is a very big deal, Poppy.

HARLOW: Huge. Great reporting on this all weekend, Natasha. Thanks very much.

COLLINS: Also this morning, the head of the Health and Human Services Department is now slamming a federal judge's decision to suspend the FDA's approval for what is a widely-used abortion pill.

In an interview yesterday on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," Secretary Javier Becerra said that everything is on the table in the fight to protect access to the pill, known as mifepristone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAVIER BECERRA, HHS SECRETARY: When you turn upside-down the entire FDA approval process, you're not talking about just mifepristone. You're talking about every kind of drug. You're talking about our vaccines. You're talking about insulin. You're talking about the new Alzheimer's drugs that may come on. If a judge decides to substitute his preference, his personal opinion, for that of scientists and medical professionals, what drug isn't subject to some kind of legal challenge?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We should note that a spokesman for his department later walked back comments after he said everything was on the table when it came to whether or not HHS will ignore that ruling. Within an hour of the Texas ruling on Friday, though, a separate one

came from a federal judge in Washington state. There was a competing decision. That decision blocked the FDA from rolling back access to the pill in at least 17 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia.

We should note that, for now, access to mifepristone is unchanged, as the DOJ is going to appeal the Texas ruling.

Legal experts say that the dueling rulings could quickly land, though, in the issue -- the issue in the hands of the Supreme Court.

Joining us now for perspective on this is CNN Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic, whose new book, "Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court's Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences," is out now.

Joan, obviously, these conflicting decisions, it was a little bit confusing on Friday to see them come down so quickly within -- within an hour of one another. What do you make of where this stands now? And the idea that it might ultimately go to the Supreme Court?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: I think definitely the issue will, Kaitlan. It's good to see you, Poppy and Don, this morning.

Here's the thing. This is the first big abortion set of cases that will be heading on a path toward the Supreme Court since Roe v. Wade was reversed last June. That was a stunning decision by a narrow 5 to 4 vote.

But there's something that the justices said in that decision that will probably affect how this Texas case is handled when it is appealed to the Supreme Court.

The justices said that this should now be a matter for the states, that it's -- that it's the states that should handle it. Any kind of moral policy issue is something for elected officials.

And Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately, after he had joined the majority, to say the court was not outlawing abortion nationwide.

If this Texas decision is allowed to stand, and medication abortion is not available in the states that now allow it, effectively, the Supreme Court would be outlawing -- significantly -- significantly prohibiting abortion in states that I say do allow it now.

LEMON: Joan, I wonder what this means for the FDA and what it does to its power and legitimacy, because Secretary Becerra argued that, if the Texas ruling were to stand, it could impact the FDA has ability to approve other drugs.

Is that a concerning or potential consequence here? That is exactly right down. In fact, that's why this case is so much different from what we had last summer.

This goes to the authority of the Food and Drug Administration to use its own expertise to review drugs to decide what should be on the market.

Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA, going back to 2000, as Attorney General Merrick Garland said when he announced that they would be appealing it, the agency had found it to be a safe and effective for the use of as -- one of two drugs in the two-drug protocol to end pregnancies early in -- in early stages.

So again, it's not the kind of large, looming constitutional question we had in the summer. But it's a very practical question, not just for access to abortion medication, but access to all drugs.

[06:10:11]

You know, what kind of deference judges would be required to give to the experts, who would now -- know how to screen drugs and one last thing done in this judge's ruling. There was just a lot of contempt for the FDA that I don't know would be at as high a level as Judge Kacsmaryk had in his decision and other judges will have down the road.

HARLOW: Yes, that that was striking in reading that that decision.

Before you go, Joan, just the constitutional issues at play that will decide not just the future of this drug in the high court but of all of the FDA's ability to do what it does without state intervention, would be, what, the Supremacy Clause argument and the -- and the Commerce Clause argument.

Now, right now, in this particular case, Poppy, it has to do with just straightforward kind of administrative law authority of the Food and Drug Administration, the processes it was using when it -- when it did decide that this abortion medication was safe and effective.

What Judge Kacsmaryk said in his ruling is that he faulted -- he was really down in the weeds. It wasn't -- as I said, it wasn't a big constitutional question here. It was that he said the way that the FDA approved this did not sufficiently account --

HARLOW: Right.

BISKUPIC: -- for the psychological and physiological effects on women. So he was down into the processes that the FDA had used. That was the bulk of his ruling.

HARLOW: Would the high court be considering those bigger issues when looking at the FDA's authority?

BISKUPIC: Yes, I mean, it could for the Supreme Court. Everything could be on the table, including Poppy. A threshold question of whether these anti-abortion physicians and medical groups even had no legal standing to even bring this case.

And I'm sure that when we see the Department of Justice appeal, they're really going to hit that strong, too.

HARLOW: OK. Thank you, Joan, very much. HARLOW: Great, Joan. Thanks a lot.

So the nation's attention captured with that story and this one, as well, of course. Nashville city council set to huddle today, possibly vote on reinstating ousted Democrat Justin Jones back to the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Jones is one of the so called Tennessee Three. They were expelled Thursday night for staging a protest on the House floor, demanding stronger gun reforms following the mass shooting at the Covenant School, which killed six people.

Here's what Justin Jones told us. This is on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: If the Nashville city council next week wants to appoint you as an interim representative to your district, you would do it?

JUSTIN JONES (D), EXPELLED FROM TENNESSEE STATE HOUSE: Most definitely, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Straight now to our correspondent, Isabel Rosales, live in Nashville this morning. Good morning, Isabel.

What roadblocks could be standing in the way of Jones and his supporters?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Don.

The goal of metro council today during its special meeting happening later on in the evening, is to appoint Jones back to his seat.

Now I spoke with the city council member Jeff Syracuse, who tells me that he is confident that there was enough support within the council to appoint him.

But there is a tricky part right before that appointment vote. In order to get to the appointment vote, they first have to vote to suspend a council rule that prohibits someone being nominated and appointed within the same meeting.

It only takes two council members to object to the suspension of the rule for it to fail, and then we don't get to the appointment vote.

And we're told by Syracuse that, if it fails, it could take four weeks until they are able to appoint Jones back to his seat. So that is something we're keeping a close eye on, and that will be a pivotal moment within this metro council meeting.

Meanwhile there's a real sense of urgency here from the council members that we've spoken with to reinstate Jones, and that is because there are 70 - nearly 70,000 people under Jones's district currently have no representation within the state House. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SYRACUSE, NASHVILLE COUNCIL MEMBER: Justin has a very important voice on this topic that we've been talking about, which is gun control, school safety and whatnot. And so we need him back there.

There's an understanding that decorum was broken, for sure, but it was an egregious act to actually expel him and Justin Pearson from the legislature. That was -- that action did not meet the transgression that occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Nashvillians are organizing a day of action here before the metro council meeting. They are rallying here and support of the reinstatement of Jones.

And then afterwards, they're going to march over to the state capital -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. Quiet there in Nashville. You can hear the birds where Isabel Rosales is. Let's see if that stays today. Thank you, Isabel. Appreciate that.

In our next hour, w e're going to be joined by the vice mayor of Nashville, Jim Shulman. You see his photograph there on your screen. He called for today's special meeting to fill Justin Jones' seat. We'll see what happens.

HARLOW: Well, an imam in New Jersey is recovering this morning in the hospital after he was stabbed during Ramadan services at the Omar Mosque in Paterson. This happened early yesterday.

[06:15:10]

And, according to a spokesperson, the suspect lunged for the imam, stabbing him at least two times, and tried to escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL HAMDAN, OMAR MOSQUE SPOKESPERSON: Because of the swift action of the Omar Mosque congregates, the attacker was swiftly and immediately apprehended as he tried to run out of the mosque. Until he was placed under arrest by Paterson Police Department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Omar Jimenez joins us now. Terrifying. Do we know how he's doing this morning?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, thankfully, he's in stable condition, so it seems like he's going to be OK.

But as we heard some of those details, this is a situation that unfolded pretty quickly early Sunday morning. This was the first prayer of the day this suspect, who was unknown to the congregates, lunged for, stabbed the imam multiple times and then tried to run.

But the congregates grabbed him, held him until police were able to arrive and this person was arrested. The investigation goes from there.

But take a listen to one of the spokespeople for the mosque about why this time period was so significant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMDAN: This is a holy time for Muslims, and actually, you know other religions, as well. We're celebrating Easter. We're celebrating Passover. But for Ramadan, it is the holiest month of the year. And typically, there are more congregates than other times. It's a spiritual time for us.

And -- and naturally, something like this, you know, is bothersome, and -- and we naturally don't expect it to happen. It has not happened at our congregation before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So obviously in the middle of Ramadan, and the mayor says that moving forward, especially through this period, they do plan to have some increased security presence, just to give people a very (ph) peace of mind.

COLLINS: Yes. It's unbelievable. Luckily, he's OK and he's recovering.

JIMENEZ: Yes, definitely.

HARLOW: Than you, Omar.

COLLINS: All right. Also this morning, he was convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester. Coming up, why the Texas governor is now going to pardon him.

HARLOW: Thanks so much.

JIMENEZ: Of course, and good morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:41]

HARLOW: Texas Governor Greg Abbott is pushing that state's patrol -- parole board to recommend a pardon for Daniel Perry. He is the Army sergeant who was convicted of murder on Friday for shooting and killing a protester during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020.

This is what Abbott tweeted on Saturday: quote, "I'm working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sergeant Perry."

Ed Lavandera joins us from Dallas with more. So it has to go through this process. I wonder how the victim's family is responding, because this -- this happened right after the jury verdict came in. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, all of this happening very

quickly. In fact, this trial isn't even fully over yet. They're entering the sentencing phase.

And the district attorney in Austin, Texas, says that the government -- the intervention from Governor Greg Abbott, and this case already is, quote, "deeply troubling."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty of the offense of murder.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): An Austin jury convicted Daniel Perry on Friday for the murder of Garrett Foster. The Army sergeant broke down after hearing the verdict.

Perry shot and killed Foster during a Black Lives Matter protest in the summer of 2020.

After the trial, Foster's family expressed their relief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're happy with the verdict. We are very sorry for his family, as well. Just -- there's no winners in this. And just glad it's over.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But this case is far from over. The very next day, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted his vow to pardon Perry as quickly as possible and argued Texas has one of the strongest standard ground laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney."

In the weeks after the murder of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protests erupted all over the country. Garrett Foster joined the protests in Austin.

GARRETT FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Got it out tonight. They don't let us march in the streets anymore, so I got to practice some -- some of our rights.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Daniel Perry was a rideshare driver and had just dropped off a customer near a BLM protest on the downtown streets.

Prosecutors said Perry ran a red light to turn into the crowd. This is where accounts differ.

At the time, some witnesses say Perry deliberately instigated the altercation.

JAMES SASINOWSKI, WITNESS: The driver intentionally and aggressively accelerated their vehicle into a crowd of people. That is extremely clear.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The lead investigator testified that video showed Perry did not accelerate but slowed down.

Perry says Garrett Foster was carrying an assault-style rifle, which he was legally allowed to do, and pointed the gun at him.

(GUNFIRE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Perry fired his handgun several times at Foster, killing him. Perry's lawyers call it self-defense.

But in the trial, prosecutors pointed to texts and social media posts Daniel Perry made that summer that suggested Perry was looking for a fight. In one, Perry wrote he might "kill a few people on my way to work. They are rioting outside my apartment complex."

Someone wrote back, "Can you legally do so?"

Perry responded, "If they attack me or try to pull me out of my car, then yes."

The Texas jury didn't buy the self-defense argument and issued a guilty verdict on the murder charge. Perry's lawyer says they're disappointed and will appeal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (on camera): And Poppy, you know, Daniel Perry case has also gotten the attention of right-wing media where that has become a cause very similar to what we saw in Wisconsin in the Kyle Rittenhouse case.

However, in that case, Rittenhouse was acquitted by the jury. FOX News host Tucker Carlson was pushing Governor Abbott on Friday night to pardon Daniel Perry. And the governor here in Texas issued that statement the very next day, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. And as you note, the timing. It's -- this comes before even the sentencing phase of the trial, which complicates things --

LAVANDERA: Yes.

HARLOW: -- to say the least at lavender. There was a fascinating report. Thank you.

LEMON: Yes. Very good report. It' -- Would it be gubernatorial overreach in this case?

HARLOW: They have -- I mean, he's going through the process.

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: I don't -- I don't know where -- I don't know where this is going to go. It's fascinating to watch. You know, the limits of stand your ground, but the jury has spoken.

LEMON: Yes.

[06:25:02]

Straight ahead, the move from the Environmental Protection Agency that could soon make a majority of the cars on the road electric. COLLINS: And where is the money? Comedian Jon Stewart pressing a

Defense Department official, a top one, on their budget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: I'm a human being who lives on the earth and can't figure out how $850 billion to a department means that the rank- and-file still have to be on Food Stamps. Like, to me, that's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) corruption. I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So the Pentagon is in damage control mode after highly- classified documents about the war in Ukraine apparently leaked onto social media. They reveal Ukrainian troop numbers and how the U.S. spies on our own allies.

Retired Army Major General Mike Lyons -- there he is -- he's going to join us live next hour to analyze the fallout.

HARLOW: The Biden administration is vowing to protect access to an abortion pill after a federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA's approval of that medication.

Republican Congressman Nancy Mace has criticized her own party over abortion. She'll join us live in the 7 a.m. hour.

[06:30:00]