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CNN This Morning

Today, Air Guardsman Accused of Leaking Documents Set to Appear in Court; Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) Signs Bill Banning Most Abortions in Florida After Six Weeks; Trump Answers Questions for Seven Hours in New York Fraud Lawsuit. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 14, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm very social. I like to interact with other people.

Now, I'll tell you what, guys, pretty powerful to hear Giannis say that kind of stuff. I'm sure it's going to help others. And he actually has a foundation in his father's name to help others when it comes to mental health as well.

DON LEMON, CNN THIS MORNING HOST: Very good.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN THIS MORNING HOST: I love that so much. I remember Simone Biles and so many more athletes now feeling like they can speak out and so many people that look up to them.

LEMON: Taking the stigma of mental health issues.

HARLOW: Yes, yes, yes, that's great. Andy, thank you.

LEMON: Thanks

HARLOW: CNN This Morning continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN THIS MORNING HOST: The feds believe that he's the one who leaked that trove of secret documents online.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a deliberate criminal act.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number of categories of information involved here and the timeliness is hugely concerning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't want an abortion. Don't have one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A beating heart is how our society defines the presence of life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many more women will get hurt in the meantime? The meantime matters here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, we value life from conception to the casket.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is going to be a reckoning, members. I hope you don't get caught up in it.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: San Francisco Police arrested a man in connection with the murder of the founder of the mobile payment service Cash App.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Lee was murdered by somebody that he knew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a case with the man that lost his life that deserves justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The former president, testifying under oath for nearly seven hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is part of a civil lawsuit led by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

COLLINS: Despite Donald Trump's many swirling legal issues, he is now suing his former attorney, Michael Cohen, for $500 million.

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: The whole purpose of this lawsuit, it's to harass and intimidate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anger on the streets of France.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sorry, I just got a full load of tear gas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crucial ruling is expected in France and whether the pension reform law will stand or fall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think in the history of the fifth republic we have seen so much rage, so much hatred at our president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Yes, we're in the middle of a very busy news cycle.

HARLOW: A very busy Friday, yes.

LEMON: A very busy Friday. But just in general, the past couple of weeks. Good morning, everyone. Kaitlan is on assignment. We welcome you into CNN This Morning this morning.

The FBI arresting a young, low ranking Air National Guardsman for the massive league of top secret pentagon documents online. Today, 21- year-old Jack Teixeira is set to appear in federal court for the first time. News helicopters capturing the moment an FBI swat team arrested him at his mother's house in Massachusetts. You see the video right there on your screen. You can see Teixeira walking backwards with his hands on his head before agents take him into custody with their guns drawn. Teixeira was an it specialist for military intelligence unit on Cape Cod.

U.S. officials tell CNN that he was also the leader of a small, private online group of video gamers, where hundreds of highly classified U.S. intelligence documents were posted before they spread on social media. A source is telling CNN Teixeira was under surveillance for at least two days before his arrest, and the FBI did not want to raid the house because they were concerned about him having guns.

CNN's Jason Carroll live outside of the federal courthouse in Boston, as we wait for the suspects hearing. Good morning, Jason.

The FBI apparently wanted to arrest him at work yesterday, but he did not show up.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And so they had very little choice at that point, then to go to his mother's home in Dighton, south of Boston, and take him into custody there. And as you had mentioned, Don, because there is this issue of guns being at the home, you can imagine why there was heightened worry in terms of being able to take him into custody.

Which is why it bears worth showing that video again of late afternoon yesterday when aerial cameras were above as that moment took place when he was brought into custody, hands above his head, walking backwards, step by step until he was finally into custody, taken into custody without incident.

Again, here's what we know about Jack Teixeira. He's 21-years-old, member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Airman First Class. His duty title, cyber transport systems journeyman. He entered the Guard back in 2019, September 26.

Once again, he was a leader of that online chat group on Discord where they shared mutual interests and gaming and guns, also sharing racial memes as well, and according to federal officials, sharing classified documents as well.

[07:05:01]

I spoke to one of his classmates. This is a young woman who knew him not only in high school but knew him in middle school as well. That they had a class together, on his history class, and, Don, she said that often times he made other students uncomfortable when he talked about his interest in guns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE CLEATHERO, FORMER CLASSMATE OF JACK TEIXEIRA: A lot of people were worried of him, especially since he was really into the whole guns thing and spoke about it quite often. And I know it was kind of off-putting to some people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: And, John, when I asked her if she was surprised at all about his arrest, he said, no, not really. Because she said this was someone who she remembers was always interested in sharing any sort of information that he had, whether it be about history, guns or other subject matters as well.

So, again, right now, we wait for Jack Teixeira's initial court appearance, which is expected to take place here at the federal courthouse later today.

LEMON: Jason Carroll joining us from Boston, Jason, thank you so much.

HARLOW: Let's talk more about this with CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez. Evan, good morning to you again.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HARLOW: Gosh, where do we begin? How did they -- I mean, I guess they narrowed it down pretty quickly to find him because of Discord, right?

PEREZ: Right. They narrowed it down pretty quickly because the members of this group obviously had already been talking to the media. Some of the members shared some of the documents that they had seen, obviously. And The Washington Post says that there are as many as 500 documents going far back as far back as eight months ago.

At first he was he was posting just, you know, summaries that he typed out and then got frustrated that they weren't paying attention to group of gamers that he was talking with, and then started sharing the documents themselves, photographs of some of the documents, which he appeared to be photographing in his family's kitchen.

What's clear, though, and what we're going to see emerge in the court documents that that we will see today is that, you know, at least from the perspective of the Justice Department, this guy is not somebody who was like a whistleblower. He's not Chelsea Manning. He's not Edward Snowden, who were trying to blow the whistle on what they viewed as government wrongdoing. It appears he was just showing off.

HARLOW: Well, yes. And not only the question is why did the Pentagon grant access to such a young sort of low ranking member but also why The New York Times was at his house talking to his stepfather before the feds showed up. I know they were surveilling the home. I just -- The Post and the -- The Washington Post and The New York Times knew.

PEREZ: Yes. And even some members of our team were chatting with some of the members and were trying to trying to figure out how to get to him.

So, the FBI started -- you know, the investigation began on Friday. Pretty quickly, they realized where they were needed to look and they started interviewing some of these guys. You know, for the FBI, though, they need to figure out how to build a case and a case that can stand up in court. And so, you know, from, you know, covering these cases, it's just pretty quick work from the FBI. I know sometimes it seems they take forever to do these types of things, but this is --

HARLOW: But people shouldn't be concerned by that?

PEREZ: Yes. I think based on when they started and how quickly they got to him, it's pretty quick.

LEMON: But they should be concerned about how he had access to these. But my question is how did he get them out if he's photographing them in the kitchen? He carried these documents out.

PEREZ: Yes, and that's the weakness. That's weakness of this system.

LEMON: Or printed them or whatever. So --

PEREZ: Yes. The systems -- again, since Snowden and since Chelsea Manning, there have been billions of dollars spent on making sure that your computer systems log who accesses documents. You know, when you print documents, there's a watermark on them.

It appears in this case, he simply printed these things that he had access to, thousands of people have access to these to these reports, that were prepared for some of the top generals, he folded them in fours, put him in his in his cargo pants and walked out the door. That's the weakness of the system. It all depends on the people you entrust with the secrets. That's where the failure here is.

LEMON: Crazy.

HARLOW: Yes. Evan, thanks very much for your reporting.

LEMON: Thank you, Evan. To be continued, lots to discuss. Thank you, Evan Perez.

So, another story now, after a fierce debate yesterday, the Florida House passed a six-week abortion ban. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed it into law last night replacing the previous law, which banned abortion after 15 weeks. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are creating a death sentence for women and I will not support this bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a physician, I find this bill to be scientifically sound.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep your sanctimonious opinions for your own family and stay out of mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really is that simple.

[07:10:00]

We value life or we don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Under the new law, most abortions in Florida would be banned after just six weeks. Victims of rape, incest and human trafficking could obtain an abortion up to 15 weeks into a pregnancy but would have to provide evidence of those circumstances. It would also ban doctors from prescribing an abortion via telehealth and require medication for abortion be dispensed by a physician, not by mail.

We should note that according to doctors, some women don't even know they're pregnant until after six weeks.

So, joining us now, David Chalian, CNN Political Director and the host of CNN Political Briefing Podcast. Good morning. Thank you, sir. Obviously, here to talk to us about the politics of this, the governor is likely going to run for president. It's no surprise that he signed this. But is this an issue that he talks about in Florida and his meetings with GOP groups giving speeches?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And we should note also the State Supreme Court needs some action here on the on the 15-week ban before this six-week ban can actually take effect in Florida.

But to your point about Governor DeSantis, Don, we have seen him sort of champion a lot of the legislative work he has been getting through in Florida. This is something he doesn't shy away from, obviously, but it's not something that he puts front and center the way he does his battle with Disney against what he thinks is woke corporate culture, the way he puts the education agenda, where he thinks public education in Florida sort of run amok when it comes to the teaching of race and history and gender identity, sexual orientation. So, he has put other battles much more front and center in his sort of pre-campaign travels around the country than he has this six-week ban.

I mean, just take a look. He was in Ohio campaigning yesterday. He got back to Florida. This law got signed at 11:00 at night or so, that's not usually when a governor would sign a law if you want to maximize attention here.

Again, I'm not suggesting anyway, he shied away from it. I just think he understands that there are sort of primary politics at play in general election politics at play.

HARLOW: That's a great point. I mean, it's a tight rope that he is clearly walking. I do think it's so notable because it elevates again into the spotlight the role of judges and all of this when you look at -- you mentioned this Florida Supreme Court. DeSantis has appointed a number of even more conservative justices to that bench. And so now that court, which is traditionally protected the right to privacy in the Florida State Constitution, meaning to protect the abortion rights there, may view it very differently now.

CHALIAN: Without a doubt, which is why I think, Poppy, most people think this is going to go into effect, this six-week ban that DeSantis signed. I do want to note here on the politics of this. A six-week ban is not broadly popular among Republicans, if you look at a lot of the polling out there, it kind of splits Republicans. Now, it may be broadly popular with the Iowa Republican caucus going electorate or those that participate in presidential primaries in some key states, like South Carolina as well, but Republicans broadly are kind of split on something like a six-week ban. Overwhelmingly, it's not that popular when you talk about the American public overall.

So, while DeSantis clearly believes this will help with some key portion of the Republican primary base, I think he is no doubt aware that when you're talking about a general election, if he is indeed the nominee, that suburban women in places outside of Detroit or Milwaukee or Phoenix in these key battleground states, independent voters, this is precisely the kind of thing that can make it harder for Republicans to woo those voters to their side.

LEMON: So, you think he's boxing himself in?

Well, can we talk about another one of the potential contenders, right, you know, this exploratory committee that Tim Scott has launched. He announced that he formed this committee that was earlier this week. But he has been really struggling to kind of define his message and his platform on abortion in interviews, finally saying this to a local reporter, this is in New Hampshire on Thursday. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I think since (ph) half to solve that problem on their own, though. The big problem that we see today is that are Democrats want to make this a federal issue of having abortions into the third trimester? That is something that puts us in the company of China and North Korea. We cannot go there. So, we have to have a federal limit on how far we can go. And that is something that we have to discuss.

REPORTER: So, if that 20-week ban reached your desk, would you sign it?

SCOTT: 20-week ban, definitely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Poppy is sitting here saying --

HARLOW: No. I'm just -- David, I was just pointing out that that is not the position of most Democratic lawmakers that abortion can be until the end of a pregnancy, just point of fact there. Roe versus Wade was 24, 26 weeks.

CHALIAN: Exactly. And most Democrats say, let's go back to what Roe v. Wade had in place.

[07:15:01] You noticed Tim Scott's support of a 20-week ban there. His fellow senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, has introduced legislation for a federal national 15-week ban. He has not yet fully gotten on board with that, though he says he is proudly and 100 percent pro-life when he is out on the campaign trail.

You're going to see throughout this Republican presidential primary process, there's going to be a debate within the GOP, and you can start hearing it. I mean, Tim Scott is in a slightly different place now than is Ron DeSantis, than is Mike Pence, who told our Wolf Blitzer a couple of weeks ago, he just would like to see abortion completely banned.

So, there is going to be a debate inside the Republican Party as they court primary voters about where they want to position themselves and then I think we'll have to see if Republican primary voters consider general election electability in their thinking.

LEMON: And then you have Republicans who are saying that the GOP is out of step with what most Americans want. So, they -- you know, there's a clash within the party.

HARLOW: So, the next question then, David, has to be, okay, then, if you if these if this is a policy you support, what are you going to provide in terms of health care for those mothers and for the children and what support after birth as well. It becomes a question on those states. David, thanks very much.

LEMON: Thanks, David.

CHALIAN: Thank you, guys.

LEMON: Former President Trump testifying under oath again in a civil case that is threatening his business empire. But this time around, things were different. We're going to break down what we know about his deposition in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

HARLOW: What a beautiful morning. What a beautiful week it has been here in New York. A live look over New York City this Friday morning, and, yesterday, former President Donald Trump spent nearly seven hours here at the New York Attorney General's Office in Manhattan. The former president sat for deposition is part of a civil case brought by New York State against Trump, some of his children and his sprawling business empire.

Errol Louis, CNN Political Commentator and Columnist for New York Magazine, is with us now. What I find most interesting about this is that he didn't plead the Fifth 400-plus times like you had previously. He answered some questions. I wish I knew what questions and I wish I knew the answers. But --

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. We all wish we knew that. And there's a reason, by the way, that he did not plead the Fifth 400 times the way he did in his previous deposition, and at least that's what we're hearing. And the reason is that, you know, in a criminal case, you have the right to remain silent. You don't have to say anything. You can sit there from the beginning of the trial to the end, and you cannot draw any negative influences from that. A jury is not allowed.

This is a civil case, just the opposite. If you sat there when charged after charge is revealed to you, and you just sat and said nothing, a future jury, if it should come to that, is allowed to say, there's something fishy here. And so it was not in Donald Trump's interest to remain silent or to plead the Fifth over and over and over again. Presumably, the attorney general heard a lot more information from him in yesterday's deposition.

LEMON: And you heard what he had been saying about Letitia James, calling her racist and so on and so forth. According to sources, she was in the room for part of the time. I wonder what that was like.

LOUIS: Oh, that must have been fascinating. And actually, interestingly enough, she sat in on at least part of the last deposition, and, apparently, there was a certain amount of charm and cordiality between --

HARLOW: Really?

LOUIS: Yes. Donald Trump, if -- you know, you've dealt with him. I mean, he's -- you know in person, even if he's about to cut your throat, there's a certain amount of graciousness, there's a certain kind of wildly charm that that comes to the fore. And, apparently, that happened before.

Now, I don't know if that happened yesterday. Things are getting a lot more serious. The problems for Donald Trump are really starting to --

HARLOW: Let's talk more about the problems for Donald Trump outside of this probe, right, because this is civil. Kaitlan did really fascinating interview with former Attorney General Bill Barr, who was during the Trump administration, and this really struck me what he said about how caught the president may be legally, how much of a challenge he faces in the obstruction part of the Mar-a-Lago probe. Here is that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: They draw bond them for a year-and-a-half. They did subpoena him. And I think the real question there is not whether he kept the documents and had them in Mar-a-Lago so much as once this was raised with him, and it was clear that he was being asked to return the documents as the government's property, the games were played for quite a long time. And I think that that exposes him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Again, Bill Barr saying that exposes him. LOUIS: well, this is somebody who knows the federal law, for sure.

HARLOW: Really well.

LOUIS: And he's talking about something that is always an issue when a federal investigator, FBI, Department of Justice official sits you down to talk with you, even if it seems like a casual chat, you must tell the truth. Failing to do so gives rise to an independent offense for which you can be prosecuted, and it's relatively easy actually, to sort of prove that, even if parts of any kind of underlying offense are a little bit harder to get to.

So, Bill Barr is just sort of speaking the obvious truth, which is that, you know, even if you had a case to make about, well, I accidentally took the boxes, I wasn't clear on the law, my advisers misled me, you can say all kinds of different things. But then when it's brought to your attention that you have to give it back, if you start moving boxes playing games, delaying and obfuscating and lying to federal officials, apart from anything else that might have been true, now you've got a real legal problem.

LEMON: Yes. I saw one of the things that Bill Barr said in the interview that, you know, Donald Trump's problems were of his own making. I was like, well, duh, that's stating the obvious. As you just said, it's obvious, he creates his own problems and then blame other people for them.

LOUIS: You know, it's interesting, because what I have seen as a pattern since the time that I've been watching him closely is that he takes commercial standards that served him and his Trump Organization well, at least financially for many, many years, and he tries to apply it in a different context. And then you get into a lot of trouble, you know, like valuing your property is one way for the tax authorities and another way for the banks is standard practice.

HARLOW: To get more favorable loans.

LOUIS: Yes, he's done that for years. But there's a point at which it can really get you in trouble.

[07:25:00]

He has, you know, sort of shaded the truth, shall we say, or, you know, dared officials to come after him. He's bullied and intimidated people. He's not paid his lawyers and his contractors. All of this kind of behavior, and a lot of it is now coming back to sort of haunt him because, in a different context, that can either be of legally problematic or it can really just turn people off and you start to lose allies. And I think both of those things are happening to him.

LEMON: Nothing gets at him more than trying to take some of his money or talking about how -- you know, that he doesn't have as much money as he claims he does. Letitia James' suit is seeking $250 million and it bans his ability to operate a business in the state. So, that would be huge. LOUIS: Yes. Well, that's -- I mean, look, that's a death blow to the organization, saying that neither he nor his adult children, his three oldest adult children could do business in New York State. That would spell the end of the organization.

HARLOW: Well, Errol, thanks very, very much. Have a great weekend.

LEMON: Good to see you.

HARLOW: The man accused of killing Cash App Founder Bob Lee will appear in court today. What police say about the stabbing and why they say it was not a random street crime.

LEMON: And this, jury selection continuing in the Dominion's billion dollar lawsuit against Fox News. We're going to tell you what the potential jurors were asked, like their opinion on the My Pillow guy.

HARLOW: That's interesting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]