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PAC Backing Pence Hits Trump in Ad; 2020 Election Investigation; Cocaine Found at White House. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 06, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST AND ANCHOR: Towing around a draw a clear contrast on matters of principle. And when it comes to cozying up to dictators, that's a pretty clear way do it. So is, you know, requests to overturn the election.

So - so - and, look, this is a PAC, so it's going to be a little more full-throated.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

AVLON: I can - I can quibble as a former speech writer with his use of the words weakness arouses evil. Weird - weird verb for Mike Pence. Nonetheless -- nonetheless, that is -- this is a very tough ad and it's a core point of - of the - it's worth going on offense on, particularly with Putin in the news, Xi and North Korea.

BLACKWELL: But, John, before we move on Arizona, because I certainly want to talk about that, he defended -- Pence defended the meeting with Kim Jong-un, the several meetings. He defended the tweets about his -- Trump's relationship with Putin.

AVLON: Yes.

BLACKWELL: So now he's going to say, well, you shouldn't be so close to them. For four years you assumed your boss getting close to those people.

AVLON: That's a very fair point. And this is where Pence is in a bit of a box because he was, until the very, very end, he would defend anything Donald Trump did. He was totally devoted. Even when there were contradictions with his own personal beliefs. And that's where there's a credibility gap with Mike Pence. But he can make it up now by saying, I'm a candidate now and this is what I really believe. But critics will point that out and they'd be right to.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Betting memories are short maybe.

BLACKWELL: Maybe.

AVLON: That's a good bet in America.

HARLOW: Elie, let's talk about Arizona and the significance of the reporting we just got from our colleague, Katelyn Polantz. It tells us, obviously, DOJ is focused on more than just Georgia and that famous phone call. What else does it tell us?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, that's the big takeaway. Let's remember, this was a seven-state strategy. We were all very focused on Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, that infamous phone call. But this tells us that DOJ -- we now know for the first time they are speaking to an important, highly placed individual in one of those other states among the seven.

The fact that we now know that Rusty Bowers was interviewed by the FBI, he said for four hours, is enormously significant. It tells me they need his information. He said to Kaitlan Collins last night that he provided corroborating documents to the FBI. Documents that Rudy Giuliani had given to him. He told us that the FBI was focused on Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, the attorney. It tells me that this investigation is focused on the broader scheme here, as it should be.

BLACKWELL: But if they've spoken to Rusty Bowers, one would imagine that if he hasn't been interviewed yet, there's going to be an effort to speak with the governor on this.

HONIG: I - I agree, actually.

HARLOW: He is - the governor thinks it's weird that he hasn't been talked to.

HONIG: I agree. I think now -- it could be that he has been spoken to in the meantime, right? That reporting goes back a little bit, and the Rusty Bowers revelation is 12 hours old. So, it could be.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we don't know that. Yes. Yes.

HONIG: But I can't conceive of a witness list that would include only Rusty Bowers but not the governor.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

AVLON: Especially because we had reporting that, you know, there is another tape of Trump trying to pressure the former governor, Ducey. And -- but that would - that's exactly what jumped out at me about that article, Ducey saying how have I not been interviewed yet.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

AVLON: But Arizona, Elie is exactly right, Arizona was a major front in this overall effort to overturn the election based on bogus evidence, and it's ripe for (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: Remind people why they would want to talk to Governor Ducey so much, right, the famous silencing of the Trump phone call as he's certifying the results of a Biden win in Arizona.

AVLON: So - right. Right. So you remember that moment, Ducey is -- Governor Ducey is certifying the win. The president's calling and he sort of, you know, ignores it, pushes it away.

HARLOW: Yes.

AVLON: There has been, as there is the infamous tape of a president - then President Trump calling Brad Raffensperger. There's apparently another tape, this is reporting - though I believe "Washington Post" reporting -

BLACKWELL: Yes.

AVLON: That - that Trump - there's another tape of Trump doing much the same thing to Governor Ducey, trying to sort of influence him to find more votes. Remember, the margin in Arizona being just 10,000 votes. And when that bogus cyber ninja, you know, audit occurred in conjunction with a lot of folks in the Trump sphere, Biden actually, it's worth remembering, ultimately when the audit was done, came up with 300 votes more than he had previously.

HARLOW: That's right.

AVLON: But, you know, (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: After - I'll never forget the video, the cyber ninjas doing that work.

AVLON: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes, cyber ninjas, yes.

AVLON: The now defunct cyber ninjas we should say.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right, John, Elie, thank you both.

AVLON: You bet.

HARLOW: Cocaine has been found at the White House. How did it get there? That's what the Secret Service and everyone wants to know. The fingerprint and DNA analysis officials are conducting, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:26]

BLACKWELL: This morning, the Secret Service is launching a full-scale probe into a small bag of cocaine discovered at the entrance area of the White House on Sunday. A lab test confirmed the white powdery substance left behind was indeed cocaine. The White House now is trying to figure out how it got there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Is that the working theory right now, that it was likely a visitor, and are you confident that this was not a White House staffer?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There is an investigation. They're going to get to the bottom of this. What I wanted to be very clear is that this is a heavily - heavily traffic - heavily traveled, to be more accurate, area of the campus of the White House. And - and it is where visitors from - to the West Wing come through. This is the part where they come through when it comes to coming to the West Wing. I just don't have anything else. I'm not going to speculate on who it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Arlette Saenz is with us now from the White House.

So, there is this investigation. What do we know about it?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Secret Service is using every tool at their disposal to try to determine who brought that baggy of cocaine into the White House. A federal law enforcement official says they're running DNA test and fingerprint analysis on the bag, as well as having Secret Service comb through surveillance video and visitors logs.

Now, this baggy of a white powdery substance, which was later confirmed to be cocaine, was found within the West Wing of the White House on Sunday. It was found in an area that includes cubbies where visitors who are being brought through for tours of the West Wing, that are often led by staff, that is where those visitors can drop off their cellphones.

[06:40:02]

There's also White House officials who can drop off their cellphones and other electronic devices there if they're heading into a SCIF to view classified information.

Now, the White House has said that there is this investigation into the matter. As you hear Karine Jean-Pierre there say it's an area this is heavily traveled through. It is where these visitors come through as they are looking to go on their West Wing tours.

But one official cautioned, there is a chance that they are unable to determine who exactly brought that baggy of cocaine into the White House because it is an area where there are many people who travel through and also the size of the bag was so small it could make it difficult to determine whose baggy of cocaine it was. But, for now, the investigation continues here at the White House.

HARLOW: Certainly does.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Arlette, the president is hitting the road today to further push his Bidenomics, a word that now people are using, agenda. Where's he heading?

SAENZ: Well, Victor, the president is heading down to West Columbia, South Carolina. A ruby red state, but also a state that helped turn around Biden's presidential campaign back in 2020. He will be touting these private investment in clean energy manufacturing that the White House says will create 600 jobs in the state. It's all part of the White House's push to try to sell this idea of Bidenomics, that they're trying to show that some of the president's legislative accomplishments, like the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Law are already paying off for voters.

But it still comes at a time where many Americans are anxious about the state of the economy, with only two-thirds of Americans at this moment - or two-thirds disapproving of how the president has been handling the economy, making this a tough sell for him heading into the 2024 election.

BLACKWELL: Arlette Saenz for us there at the White House. Thanks so much.

HARLOW: Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow. He also served as a former Secret Service agent under President Obama.

Good morning.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning.

HARLOW: They're going to figure out who this was, right? I mean you can fingerprint the bag, look at, you know, video footage, right?

WACKROW: Well, they're going to try. And they're going to use every investigative tool that they have at their disposal to make attribution to who brought this schedule two illegal drug into the White House complex. You know and that does, as Arlette had mentioned, it includes, you know, fingerprints analysis, if there was, you know, some sort of whole or partial print left on the plastic bag, any type of DNA forensic evidence that could be there, as well as video surveillance, you know, in the area of the White House, but also outside around, you know, the entrances and exits.

Now, all of that being said, it is very difficult to make, you know, direct attribution absent of someone - you know, the visual presentation of the forensics. The reason being, as Arlette had said, this is basically the cross roads of the White House. There are hundreds of people who pass through there every single day, from White House staff, Secret Service, military, intelligence officials, who are going into the White House Situation Room. It's only steps away from these cubbies. And then you have the White House tours. So, there are a lot of potential individuals who could have introduced this substance into the White House. So, making attribution, and again just trying to level set expectations here, may be very difficult for investigators.

HARLOW: Huh.

BLACKWELL: Yes let's put that map back up because I think this is interesting. As large of a complex as this is, we're talking about an area that, as you've listed some of the people pass through, it helps to, I don't know, set the scope and the universe of people who could have brought this in. So, walk us through it.

WACKROW: So listen, you know, on the map what we're looking at is, this is the ground floor of the West Wing. This is where all of the official duties of the administration are held in the West Wing. But the ground floor has two, you know, big, significant areas that draw staff and military and intelligence personnel into it. One is the White House mess, that is the - the food -- the presidential food service. And then, most importantly, is the Situation Room. Now, during the weekend, the Situation Room takes a lower posture unless there is a moment of a crisis. But tours do have access into this area. Friday through Sunday, you do have West Wing tours that start right at this area of the ground floor of the - of the West Wing. They -- tours will drop their phones into these cubbies and then move along through the - through the remainder of the tour.

Now, I think that there's a higher probability that this substance was introduced at that location by a tour member, and the reason being it was the greatest volume of people at that time. Typically West Wing staff are not active in the West Wing while the president's away. And, you know, over the holiday weekend, the president was away. So, this is all, you know, leaning more towards a member of a tour group as opposed to a member of staff.

[06:45:01]

HARLOW: OK, Jonathan Wackrow, thank you for your expertise. We really appreciate it this morning. We'll see where this leads.

Coming up for us, this, hope for Alzheimer's patients. The FDA poised to approve a breakthrough drug to slow progression of the disease. We're going to tell you how much it costs and who will get access, next.

BLACKWELL: Hours from now, Florida's first lady, Casey DeSantis, is set to make her first solo campaign appearance. Where she's hitting the trail, and will it help her husband.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: New this morning, the FDA is set to decide whether it will fully approve the first Alzheimer's drug to show that it could slow the disease's progression in certain patients. But the decision could also have other implications, including who could get access to it.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell explains.

[06:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Six years ago Joe Montmilny saw a neurologist for what he thought were a few minor problems with his memory.

JOE MONTMLNY, DIAGNOSED WITH ALZHEIMER'S: Yes, she came back and she said, you know what, Joe, I -- you actually have early -- younger onset Alzheimer's disease. You're likely going to start to see -- experience declines in the next five years. And you may not recognize your family in five to seven years.

TIRRELL: Now 59, Montmlny is one of millions of Americans living with Alzheimer's disease. But this year, new hope emerged. A drug aiming to slow down the disease's progression got accelerated FDA approval in January based on the fact that it clears amyloid plaque buildups in the brain associated with Alzheimer's. But Medicare declined to cover it until the FDA granted a fuller, traditional approval based on a bigger clinical trial proving the drug has benefits for thinking clearly and being able to function in daily life. Without insurance, the medicine, called lecanemab, and sold under the brand name Leqembi, costs $26,500 a year.

MONTMLNY: You had this treatment at your fingertips and suddenly you had Medicare saying, yes, but you can't quite get access to that at this point in time.

TIRRELL: A larger trial, funded by the drug's makers, Eisai and Biogen, did find that Leqembi can slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease by about 27 percent. It's the first time a drug has proven to alter the disease's course.

DR. LAWRENCE HONIG, PROFESSOR OF NEUROLOGY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IRVING MEDICAL CENTER: It was a very dismaying experience getting a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and to be told that we don't have anything that will slow down or stop the disease in its tracks.

TIRRELL: Columbia University's Dr. Lawrence Honig says this is the beginning of a new treatment era, but he warns that Leqembi is not a cure and not everyone will be eligible for the drug.

TIRRELL (on camera): How difficult do you anticipate the conversations being with people who are more advanced and maybe are too advanced to benefit from the drug?

HONIG: We're already having these conversations that sometimes aren't so easy. It's not that we know it's not good for people with moderate or severe disease, it's just that we don't know.

TIRRELL (voice over): Side effects could be worse for people with more advanced disease as well he says. Already there's something to be aware of. About 13 percent of patients receiving the drug in its trial had brain swelling, 17 percent had brain bleeding, compared with 9 percent in the placebo group.

Leqembi is administered through IV infusion once every two weeks. Infusion centers like Vivo Infusion (ph) are gearing up for an expected surge in new patients.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In certain areas I anticipate we will receive probably at least 15 percent to 20 percent more patient referrals for this drug.

TIRRELL: Joe Montmlny is hoping he'll be able to get it for a chance for more time with his wife and two grown sons.

MONTMLNY: Like any parent, I would love to see them actually get married and have a family. I just want to experience many of the activities that most people take for granted.

TIRRELL: Meg Tirrell, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Meg Tirrell, thank you.

HARLOW: Yes, thank you, Meg.

All right, now this. We now know where Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is this hour. Apparently he's back in Russia. And that's according to the president of Belarus. This is weeks after his failed mutiny. Also new details about what was found in Prigozhin's home. Russian police seizing wigs and gold weapons and passports. What else they uncovered.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the man accused of targeting former President Obama's home did so after a Trump Truth Social post. What Trump shared with his millions of followers, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:58:06]

HARLOW: Good morning. It is the top of the hour. We're glad you're with us on a big news day. Happy to have Victor Blackwell by my side.

BLACKWELL: Good to be here.

HARLOW: Let let's start with five things to know for this Thursday, July 6th.

This morning, Donald Trump's alleged co-conspirator, Walt Nauta, is expected to plead not guilty in the classified documents case. We're now learning about surveillance video the FBI has of him moving boxes at Mar-a-Lago.

BLACKWELL: And breaking this morning, Russian police say they've raided the home and office of the mercenary leader who staged last month's rebellion. The Kremlin is refusing to say where Yevgeny Prigozhin is and the president of Belarus tells us that Prigozhin is not in his country as agreed to.

New overnight, at least four people are dead after a Russian missile attack on Kyiv. Ukrainian officials are calling it the worst attack on civilians in the region since the war began.

HARLOW: Also this morning, thousands of UPS workers across the country preparing to go on strike with time running out to reach a deal.

BLACKWELL: And Casey DeSantis is about to go solo for the first time. She'll be hitting the campaign trail in Iowa on behalf of her husband's presidential bid.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

HARLOW: We are gold you're with us. There's a lot of news to get to.

BLACKWELL: And it's all coming in like right now. It's still happening.

HARLOW: That's exactly right.

We have major developments, as we just mentioned, in terms of Russia. We have that. We also have what's going on here in the United States with the former president's classified documents probe.

We begin this morning on two federal investigations into Donald Trump. Just hours from now, Donald Trump's personal aide and alleged co- conspirator, Walt Nauta, is set to plead not guilty in the classified documents case. Take a look at the federal courthouse in Miami where the hearing will take place. This comes after a judge unsealed more of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant.

[07:00:01]

The previously redacted information reveals the FBI obtained surveillance video of Nauta moving dozens of boxes in and out of a storage room.