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Trump Set to Turn Himself in On Federal Charges; Security Concerns Mount Ahead of Arraignment; Christie Slams Trump: "Loser, Loser, Loser". Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired June 13, 2023 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:30]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We're so glad you're with us. It is a big day ahead. That's for sure.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Buckle up kind of vibe right now.
HARLOW: That's exactly right.
It is Tuesday, June 13th, historic day in America.
Donald Trump set to be arraigned in federal court for his alleged handling of classified documents.
Let's see the major developments this morning. The former president set to appear in court at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time in Miami. And he's expected to enter an initial plea of not guilty of the charges, the judge ruled, no cameras would be allowed in this courtroom.
MATTINGLY: Now, Trump will wake up in Miami this morning. Sources tell CNN he spent yesterday searching for another potential lawyer to bolster his legal team. All while law enforcement say that they're ready for the appearance, and in protests, it may bring. They say they're coordinating with federal partners to make sure the courthouse is secure.
HARLOW: Also, Trump's 2024 Republican opponent, Chris Christie, railed against his former boss, President Trump. In a CNN town hall last night, the once ally and campaign adviser called Trump's actions, quote, vanity run amok.
MATTINGLY: But as I'm sure you can imagine, Trump's allies continue to defend him. Congresswoman Margaret Taylor Greene announcing she plans to introduce the measure to defund the special counsel and his investigation.
CNN THIS MORNING special coverage starts right now.
(MUSIC)
HARLOW: Just hours from now, former President Trump is set to turn himself in on federal criminal charges in Miami, Florida. Right now, he's at his resort in Doral. That's just miles away from the courthouse where he is expected to surrender.
This is exclusive video of Trump arriving and greeting supporters at the hotel, on the eve of his arraignment. Security has been increased. And Miami police chief says the city is ready for this historic and contentious moment.
Trump himself has called on his supporters to protest. He's facing an unprecedented legal battle and his lawyers have been scrambling to find more attorneys in Florida to represent him.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, at the same time, special counsel Jack Smith is also increasing his legal team. CNN has learned Smith added at least two more prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office in Miami.
We have a team of correspondents and analysts to cover all the angles. Randi Kaye is at Trump's resort in Doral. John Avlon, Liz Wiehl and Jonathan Wackrow are here in the studio for expert analysis. And CNN's Carlos Suarez is covering the security situation outside of the courthouse.
And that's where we're going to begin.
Carlos, safety is a major concern for this arraignment. What does it look like right now?
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right, now it seems that security out here really has not changed overnight here yesterday. As a very few measures were put into place. And in fact, right now it seems that when you walk around the courthouse, it's pretty much as we love things yesterday. They've got some yellow tape out here as well some barricades that were put up.
Now, the chief of police says, look, we have enough resources on hand with the department for a crowd of up to 50,000 people. Now, when the chief was pressed on exactly where all of these resources are going, where all of these officers are going to be stationed ahead of the former president, the chief of police said that he was just not going to get into that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUAREZ (voice-over): In just hours, the former President Donald Trump will surrender at a federal courthouse in Miami.
CHIEF MANUEL MORALES, MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT: Make no mistake about it, we're taking this event extremely serious, and we know that there is a potential of things taking a turn for the worse. But that's not the Miami way.
SUAREZ: Federal and local law enforcement officials are ramping up security around the courthouse, expressing mounting concerns over potentially large crowds of Trump supporters gathering outside.
LINDA CATALINA, TRUMP SUPPORTER: We have un-wavered support for Donald Trump, we don't even care he's going to be in jail. And we have to write it in. You know, a lot of us it's like Trump, or nothing. SUAREZ: Federal law enforcement is only tasked with securing the
actual courthouse. Miami police taped off the area with yellow police tape, and erected yellow barricades.
REPORTER: Will that change? Because there's a lot of concern that people may try to storm the building, or tried to enter that area. I mean, are you going to harden that area?
MORALES: Well, I can tell, you reach back to the folks that have reached to you and tell them that there's no reason to fear.
SUAREZ: Former Miami police chief, Jorge Colina, told CNN, that the choice not to establish barriers around the courthouse could be intentional by Miami police in order to avoid attracting crowds.
[05:50:01]
Trump is expected to be driven by Secret Service to an underground garage at the courthouse. He will not be seen by the public. Once he arrives, he will be placed under arrest, read his rights and fingerprinted. He will likely not have a mugshot taken.
Trump will then be taken to a courtroom on one of the top floors of the courthouse, where he will hear the charges and enter his initial plea of not guilty.
Judge Jonathan Goodman, who is presiding over the arraignment, rejected a request from a large group of national media outlets to take photographs inside the courthouse before the proceedings.
In a written order, he says while the proceeding is, quote, genuinely historic and of huge importance, allowing photographs would undermine the massive security arraignments put in place.
Trump's supporters gathered at Trump's Doral Club, greeting him as he pulled up in his motorcade, giving the crowd a thumbs up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We follow him anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we'll do anything legally to stop this.
SUAREZ: Police had to intervene, to break up a few anti-Trump demonstrators after they clashed with supporters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock him up!
SUAREZ: One protester, wearing a stripe, person jumpsuit said this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew up in New York City. I know what a con artist he is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SUAREZ (on camera): And, so, as we go into the day, Miami police tell us that they have yet to make a decision on whether they're going to keep Donald Trump supporters as well as protesters separate. Right now, we're being told that this is a security posture and it may change depending on just how many folks come out at the end of the day out here. As for any street closures, the chief of police said that the department is not ready to do that just yet.
Again, a lot of these decisions I say are going to be made as they go in today, as they start to see just how many folks are going to show up here. And so, we will see how things shake up here on the ground -- guys.
HARLOW: OK. Carlos, thank you very much.
Randi Kaye outside Trump's resort in Doral.
Randi, good morning to you. The sun is not up. The former president, though, did seem upbeat when he arrived there last night. What can you tell us?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy.
Yes, we were inside Doral when the former president arrived. We actually saw him yesterday. Once in the afternoon, his mood seemed to be a little bit more somber when he first arrived at the resort. The son eric was there to greet him. He went to supporters, but went on his way for the legal team. Coming down to the restaurant, the main restaurant in the lobby area by about 7:00 p.m. last night, and we weren't sure if we are going to see him because we figured he'd be preparing to get some good recipe for his big day today for his court appearance.
But he was there, he seemed much more, upbeat he greeted his supporters. He went into dine in the restaurant for at least a couple of hours last night. So, he had plenty of support inside and plenty of more support outside the Doral resort. There were protesters here, but there were plenty of supporters for the former president on the ground here, and here's what a couple of them had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH FULFER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think it's absolutely tyranny. That's what it is out here, it's tyranny. It's what we're seeing from the Biden system and from the DOJ. It just keeps getting worse.
CATALINA: We don't even care, if he's going to be in jail. And we have to write him, you know? A lot of us, it's like Trump or nothing, like we're not even looking at DeSantis as a second option. We're not looking at anybody else as a second option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And there were certainly some clashes between the former president's supporters and those protesters. Police at a couple of times had actually get in between them, but today, when the former president wakes up, he'll get ready for his court appearance, and we expect him to leave the Doral resort about 130 this afternoon, and then it's about 20, 25-minute drive over to the federal courthouse in Miami. There is some concern, of course, for protesters and there is some
concern for violence. Not only here in the Doral area, but also around the courthouse. As you know, the law enforcement is very keyed into whether they're seeing anything for a call to action because they certainly don't want anything like another January 6.
So we expect to see, Poppy, plenty of security here at Doral when the former president leaves and then again at the courthouse.
HARLOW: Okay. Randi, thanks very much.
There have been a number of changes to Donald Trump's legal defense team in just the past week. Todd Blanche, the white collar criminal defense lawyer, is expected to appear with the former president this morning in Miami in court.
Joining us now is the former federal prosecutor, Lis Wiehl, CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow, and CNN senior political analyst John Avlon.
Good morning, guys. Thanks so much for being here.
John, let me start with you. Because there are many claims that the former president are making, including this just doesn't happen in democracies like America. Big picture, set the scene for us, as we head into today.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's just not true.
HARLOW: Yeah.
AVLON: There are a number of democracies where the former political leaders have been prosecuted for high crimes, including Italy, France, Israel.
[05:10:04]
And so, this is part of the rule of law. This is part of accountability, particularly in the United States where this Office of Legal Counsel opinion, that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, ensuring that there is a legal accountability, when someone leaves office.
Particularly the details in this indictment, where this was willful retention of, you know, seek classified documents, including nuclear secrets. It's an appropriate remedy, that's not the stick with that controversial, but the ramping up of rhetoric, that some of his allies in elected office, including Representative Andy Biggs using faces like war to discuss this, his own calls for protests.
We have the precedent of January 6 to secure the perimeter. But we are seeing a lot of that same moderate. That's incredibly dangerous, the politics of intimidation.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, interesting, the rhetoric doesn't get what's actually in the indictment. HARLOW: Indictment, no.
MATTINGLY: Which is probably a good window.
And, Lis, I am interested in -- I'm not a lawyer, mercifully.
LIS WIEHL, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Good for you.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTINGLY: Much to dismay of my parents, however, the kind of machinations on the legal teams right now, you saw jack smith has added prosecutors from the office and former president is also looking to add the legal team. What does that tell?
WIEHL: Well, as far as the prosecutors being added, that's completely normal because the jurisdiction wasn't, potentially was in D.C. and now it's in Florida, so they've got to amp up to get some more Floridian federal prosecutors.
As far as the Trump legal team, I mean, isn't this what, it's what Tuesday, it's another, y you know, this happens all the time. And he just goes through these lawyers. This latest lawyer had to give up his practice at a very high ranking firm and just had this one, client and not that I'm out there, you know, working for you, guy, Mr. Blanche, but you know you might be careful because it just goes to these lawyers, you know, like cups of coffee here. I mean, fast.
MATTINGLY: And do you think that's -- he had difficulty getting more lawyers.
WIEHL: Yes.
MATTINGLY: You're talking about Todd Blanche and he also needs or wants others.
WIEHL: He needs more lawyers. Well, the problem with Todd Blanche, great lawyer that he is, is that he doesn't know anything about the Espionage Act. The particular statute, particular law that people prosecuted against 100 years and they can argue something newfangled law out there.
It's established law, but you got to know about it, and you got to know how it applies. And, you know, to go into court and not have that knowledge I think is a severe challenge for anybody on Trump team.
HARLOW: You wrote about that in your most recent books, specifically, Jonathan, looking at what we're facing in terms of security, I thought it was interesting, our colleague Shimon Prokupecz talked to the Miami police chief about how they prepare for something like this. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We have been hearing from people in the building, around that area, that they're concerned that there is no hardening around the area, the perimeter and that people can just freely come and go. There's yellow tape right now that has been placed, will that change? Because, there is a lot of concern that people may try to storm the building, or may try to enter some of that area. I mean, are you going to harden that area?
MORALES: Well, what I can tell you is reach back to the folks that have reached to you and tell them that there's no reason to fear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Not the best response.
HARLOW: But do you agree with that?
WACKROW: I agree with Shimon.
Listen, we have seen the ramping up of this rhetoric go over the past few days, right? And the rhetoric is violent and it's trying to get people to animate around Donald Trump in this moment. That is what law enforcement -- we talked about this since January 6. These are the signals that law enforcement needs to key in on and what you need to show is that law enforcement is prepared for every eventuality.
Yellow tape is not going to deter somebody. I'm sorry, it's just not going to do that. Now there are concentric rings of protection around the Ferguson court house, with the -- with the innermost perimeter secured by the U.S. Marshals, but then the Miami police actually is carrying most of the burden on the security planning here, not only around the perimeter but the city at large.
And they really have to come out and talk about consequent management. What are they going to do if these two groups, you know, supporters and protesters clashed with each other?
HARLOW: They're not being separated, as far as I understand it.
WACKROW: We don't know. We are hours away from this court action, and we need to have a better plan going in. There needs to be a level of confidence that is exuded by the police chief to the public. You don't want anybody to see this as a moment of opportunity to take and transcend from political rhetoric into violent direct action.
WIEHL: And I would say set the table now at the state. An arraignment, let's face it, most arraignments are kind of boring. You just go in there you say, I plead not guilty, and then they figure out whether they're going to be held. It's quick. It's procedural.
Going forward if this doesn't plead out or go away, as the president hopes, the former president hopes, then there will be more, there will be motions on different, you know, lawyers, motions that are brought. There will be many opportunities for this to happen again.
And it's only going to be leading up to, what? The trial, right?
[05:15:00] And the trial is going to be the biggest test of security. So they need to make that established now, that they're taking this seriously and to show it. You know, not to say they're doing it but show us how.
MATTINGLY: John, can I ask you? I want us all to take a listen to what the former president said yesterday. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We need strength at this point. And everyone is afraid to do anything, they are afraid to talk and they have to go out and they have to protest peacefully.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: So that was from Sunday night, yesterday, and the points still stands in the sense of calling his people to rally and making it very specific, peacefully.
AVLON: It's a perfunctory, peacefully.
MATTINGLY: It's right there but I mean, I think that, one of the things I struggle with is that I don't want to take everything to an 11, I try to act not hyperbolic about any of these things, I was in the Capitol on January 6th. I'm aware of what can happen.
What's your sense right now of the dynamics at play?
AVLON: The precedent of January 26 is that we need to be wide-eyed about this, the reputation of that rhetoric, the reason, you know, that that clip you played, and other clips of Trump, is that there are echoes of his speech on January 6, unintentionally or not, whether that's just him pressing play on a tape in his head or not.
And notably, he's on the radio show. And there is an attempt to use a language of incitement, of intimidation. The problem is that can spill over. And we saw that happen on January 6 where some schools of thought that say, you know, the threat of violence was the feature and not the bug of that plan, trying to influence the senators, you know, voting on the certification of the election.
Here, you have the judicial process. Earlier, we saw someone outside Doral say this is tyranny. It's the opposite of tyranny. This is due process. This is law.
But because that precedent has been established, we need to be vigilant about securing this perimeter so that things go get out of hand from day one because there's some people who have taken these calls as calls to action.
WACKROW: And I think that's really important. It's the interpretation of that message, right, it's that individual that says, wow, this is my moment. This is the opportunity that I'm going to take because I'm receiving the signals and I'm going to act.
Whether the intent by the former president or his proxies is to do, that remains to be seen. But from a law enforcement standpoint, you have to understand who is receiving that signal, who is receiving that call to action and, in worst case, call to arms to than seize upon this moment.
At the courthouse, we are not going to see Donald Trump. We're not going to see, there's no cameras inside. So, all of the actions are going to take place outside. So there's going to be some sort of action, that's where it's going to take place.
Law enforcement has to be forceful in the fact that there are not going to allow any of this type of, you know, action to take place.
HARLOW: And to be fair, there may be plans from the Miami chief on down that we aren't aware of yet. And I just want to be very clear.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: We don't know at all.
WACKROW: I agree, but in terms of public safety you want to exit that confidence to deter something in advance before something materializes.
WIEHL: Exactly.
HARLOW: Everyone, standby
Republican presidential candidate, former prosecutor Chris Christie not holding back on Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is vanity run amok Anderson, run amok, ego run amok, and he's not going to put this country through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: More from a CNN town hall. We have that ahead.
Also this --
MATTINGLY: Plus, a helicopter mishap that injured almost two dozen U.S. service members in Syria. We have more on that and much more, coming up.
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[05:22:39]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: Loser, loser, closer. This is vanity run amok. That is a child. It's a child. Completely self centered, completely self consumed, and doesn't give a damn about the American people in my view. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: He's not known for being an introvert. That's 2024 Republican hopeful Chris Christie railing against former President Donald Trump. The former New Jersey governor took part in the CNN town hall here in New York last night.
CNN's Omar Jimenez joins us now.
Omar, you're covering the campaign. The former governor did not hold back. We didn't expect him to.
What's your take away from that?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I mean, he hit on, of course, a lot of policy things like abortion, the future of this country and more. But part of Christie's campaign strategy is to confront Donald Trump directly and he leaned heavily into that.
For example, he didn't just say that Trump hasn't won Republican since 2016. You know, talking about eventually losing the House, White House, and then Senate. He made sure to call in a 3 time loser and that was not all of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIE: I've known him for 22 years. The only thing he understands is force. The only thing he understands is coming right at him and making your case.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Chris Christie didn't disappoint on his vow to take on Republican front runner, Donald Trump. In a 90-minute CNN town hall, Christie took aim at the former president for his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
CHRISTIE: It is a very tight, very detailed, evidence-laden indictment, and the conduct in there is awful. Whether you like Donald Trump or you don't like Donald Trump, this conduct is inexcusable in my opinion for somebody who wants to be president of the United States.
JIMENEZ: Christie, not pulling any punches.
CHRISTIE: Did someone remind him he's not the president anymore? You don't need these things anymore. This is vanity run amok, Anderson, run amok. Ego run amok and he is now going to put this country through this, when we didn't have to go through it.
JIMENEZ: The former New Jersey governor slamming his other GOP rivals for not criticizing Trump.
CHRISTIE: They are playing political games with you, because they think that if you kind of like Trump a little bit, and I don't see anything bad about Trump and then Trump kind of implodes and goes away, then you're more likely to vote for me.
[05:25:03]
JIMENEZ: Christie urging Republicans to think twice about the country. Christie issued this warning to voters.
CHRISTIE: I am convinced that if he goes back to the White House, that the next four years will all be about him just settling scores. And he has shown himself, and I think most particularly in his post- presidency, to be completely self-centered, completely self-consumed and doesn't give a damn about the American people in my view.
JIMENEZ: On policy, Christie took on the question over access to abortion.
CHRISTIE: Leave it to the states. Let's leave it to the states and if the consensus emerges, we'll know and if the federal government feels the need to step in that, I'll certainly consider that.
REPORTER: Mr. President, Mr. President --
JIMENEZ: He also leveled plenty of criticism against President Biden.
CHRISTIE: The reason we're struggling to make ends meet is because government spending under Joe Biden has gone completely out of control.
JIMENEZ: And then, took a dig at both Biden and Trump for their age.
CHRISTIE: If those people are the nominees, they're going to be a combined 160 years old on election day. I'm sorry, guys, nobody beats father time. Nobody does.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: Now, look, Christie hasn't exactly been polling at the top of the GOP field up to this point, but, you know, this interaction with voters and the progress is that they hope to create some sort of momentum.
And a big thing to think about, though, is while his message might appeal to some Republicans and independents, the question is, will it appeal to GOP primary voters? That's the initial issue. And as the campaign told me, what we saw last night is what the campaign is about and to expect a whole lot more of them.
HARLOW: And to Omar's great point, John, I mean, the polling from CBS and ABC in the last few days shows that many of Republican voters and certainly Trump supporters do not -- this indictment does not change their view of the former president. Does that make Chris Christie's approach here more perilous if he wants a nomination?
AVLON: No, I think it makes it more necessary. I think you need to go directly at Donald Trump.
HARLOW: To win?
AVLON: Yes. Remember, first of all, a lot of the state's independent voters can vote. There still are, you know, centrist Republicans out there.
HARLOW: In the primary?
AVLON: Correct. And, there are Republicans who are going to be an indicted president, the more they learn for retaining nuclear secrets, they might say this is a deal breaker. But only if candidates have the courage of their conviction to go directly at them, and encourage them to watch that town hall.
Christie is really good at this format. He came across as empathetic without being pandering. He was direct but not insulting. He came across as conservative but pragmatic.
Those are all really clear contrast with the Republican Party of Donald Trump. And he asked the credibility of someone who have been a chief surrogate, who is now warning that this guy is a threat to the republic if he's reelected. That's a pretty compelling argument.
MATTINGLY: It's compelling argument, it's definitely a contrast, and that's the opposite of what the Republican primary voters to some degree wanted. Therein lies the whole issue.
HARLOW: It is. And I was just so struck by the fact that it was like 14 percent of Republican primary voters in this poll, over the last few days, said the indictment could change their view of Trump for the better. Not just it eliminates him for them, but for the better.
MATTINGLY: We'll have to see.
Omar, thanks, buddy.
HARLOW: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Just hours from Donald Trump's federal court appearance. We're getting new reaction from Republicans on Capitol Hill. We'll have more on that, coming up ahead.
HARLOW: And the big announcement from the TV's Pat Sajak.
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