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CNN This Morning

Today, Key Hearing in Trump's Classified Documents Case; U.S National in North Korean Custody After Crossing Border; Extreme Heat, Flash Floods and Smoky Skies Sweep U.S. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 18, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: And then that's all one person, new Q.B., four-time league MVP Aaron Rogers.

[07:00:05]

The Jets were on the show in 2010 and they ended up going 11-5, advancing to the AFC championship game that season. But that was the last time the Jets made the playoffs. They are the only team in the league with an active playoff drought of ten or more years. Three other teams met eligibility requirements to appear on the show this season, the Bears, Saints and Commanders. But it will be the Jets' first episode of Hard Knocks premieres August 8th on HBO and Max, get your popcorn ready.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron Rogers has to realize Sauce Gardener is actually the only person everyone is going to want to watch on that show.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: The other thing I saw that they're not super happy about being on the show, even though I think that the last time they were on it, they did pretty well. So, we'll see what happens.

MATTINGLY: Yes, they can go ahead and count their money. Let us enjoy this.

Coy Wire, thanks, buddy, I appreciate it.

WIRE: You got it.

MATTINGLY: And CNN This Morning continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than 1,500 places in the U.S. have experienced record high temperatures so far this month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By September, half of the world's oceans will be in a category three or four marine heat wave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels like you're actually on fire after you're out here for a while.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not going to change this week and it's not going to change next week either.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first time that both sides of this case will appear before Trump-appointed Judge Eileen Cannon.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: She did put both sides on notice that they will be talking about a trial date.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think in the interest of the American people, it should be after the election.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Critical to our legal system is people buying in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The No Labels movement has promoted bipartisanship over extremes.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): They've gone too far right and too far left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think No Labels is a political party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are sick and tired of what they're seeing. This is a good movement.

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Let's just be clear what it is, because the American people will not embrace it.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Russia retaliating by air for the naval attack on its bridge to Crimea over the weekend.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Some dramatic scenes and sounds here in the port city of Odessa, one of the most critical and important cities in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an illegal breach, illegal construction, without seeking any permissions from Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Authorities now say they believe it's possible Heuermann has been committing murders for more than a decade.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Officials found more than 200 firearms in a walled-off vault.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every investigative step that we took failed to eliminate him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were shocked. We were disgusted. We were embarrassed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Good Tuesday morning, everyone. Poppy is off this week. Abby Phillip joins me. Abby?

PHILLIP: Nice to see you again.

MATTINGLY: It's always a pleasure. There's a lot of news, but I'm also fascinated by the developments in the Trump case, which is rarely something I say publicly, but this is an actual big day.

PHILLIP: There's actual movement today, and we will get to that right now.

Just hours from now, a federal judge holds the first key hearing in the classified documents case against the former president and his aide/co-defendant Walt Nauta. Judge Aileen Cannon is telling both prosecutors and defense attorneys to be ready to talk about the timeline in that trial. The Justice Department wants it to start this year, but the former president's lawyers are also now pushing for a delay. They say that this case is complex and that their client is busy. He's running for president. Also on the agenda, talking about how sensitive classified documents should be handled as evidence.

MATTINGLY: Now, with more on what to expect from today's proceedings is CNN Legal Analysts, former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams.

Elliot, I actually wasn't kidding about I'm very intrigued to see what happens today, in large part because we just haven't heard from Judge Aileen Cannon, although there's been a lot of discussion about her, what she may or may not do. What should we expect today?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Not only have we not heard from Judge Aileen Cannon, the parties have not. They have not sat down and met with her in person.

So, let's talk through what today is. In any other trial, Phil, this would be a relatively simple, straightforward, pretrial conference, status conference is what lawyers call it. Unfortunately, this is not any other trial.

And they're going to be handling a few things. Number one, what are the procedures governing classified documents? That's going to be the big sticky one today, which is what do the prosecutors actually have to turn over to defense? What can they do in the form of summaries? Who sees it and so on? That will be a legal fight over the next couple of days.

Scheduling, when is this dang thing happening? And I think that's a big fight. Maybe we get an answer on it today. Probably not, but we'll talk about that a little bit later. And, again, it's the first hearing in front of Judge Cannon.

Now, she, as you may recall, and as people may recall, is a federal judge who got blasted, sort of eviscerated for an opinion she issued some months ago that was really seen as just getting the law and the facts just quite wrong in this case and got overturned by the appeals court. You got Jack Smith, who's the special counsel overseeing all of this, and everybody knows who the 45th President of the United States is, Donald Trump, Walt Nauta, his co-defendant in a classified documents case.

MATTINGLY: I want to ask about Walt Nauta. I think people may have been living their lives and not noticed that there were moments where he didn't have lawyers. We weren't exactly sure when he was going to be arraigned. [07:05:00]

Is he there now?

WILLIAMS: He does have lawyers. It was several weeks after former President Trump got arraigned that Walt Nauta finally did. He has now hired counsel, number one, Stanley Woodward, number two, Sasha Dadan. Woodward is based in Washington, D.C., Sasha Dadon based in Florida. He has these two councils. Neither of them are national security lawyers, which will be interesting to see how that plays out. They're both very skilled, but not national security lawyers.

MATTINGLY: You mentioned the classified and sensitive documents. Talk about the process. How long is it going to take for you to be able to actually look at the evidence here?

WILLIAMS: Yes. So, look, you got to be cleared, even to be a lawyer representing someone in a classified document, you've got to get a security clearance, where they're going to look into things like your foreign contacts. Even I with family members, a sister born in Jamaica before my parents moved here, had to have that explored for my background checks in government, your financial history, could you be bribed, do you have debts, and, of course, your criminal history.

Now, all that can typically take months, but they can expedite it if it's important enough. And this is a pretty high sensitivity and high import matter that they would expedite.

Now, something important to know, Phil, is that the whole trial team doesn't need to be cleared necessarily just to start. They could proceed if just one of Nauta's attorneys got a security clearance. Now, Nauta would kick and scream about that and say, I want my whole team to be able to debate the evidence here. But, no, you just got to get one person, get a security clearance who can start moving things along. And the judge can make a ruling on that saying that that's okay.

MATTINGLY: I don't think there's a wider gulf between when the Justice Department wants the trial to begin and when Trump's team wants the trial to begin. The former has an actual date, the latter amorphous to some degree. But it seems like we're at least going to get some insight into the direction Judge Aileen Cannon is leaning today. Is that fair?

WILLIAMS: Yes. There could have been a wider gulf because these two, Judge Cannon and the Justice Department, have suggested dates. Donald Trump has said. Just push it off into the future indefinitely.

Now, the judge initially set August 14th as the date for a trial. Book it, mark it down. That is not happening. The Justice Department said December 11th, everybody could get ready for trial by then. The former president said, I am a candidate for office. I'm running for office. Let's just push this off indefinitely into the future and never have or maybe never have this trial. That's not happening either, I think.

MATTINGLY: Okay. All right, Abby? PHILLIP: All right. You two, make your way on over here. We have more to discuss.

Joining us now is National Political Team Leader at Bloomberg Mario Parker and CNN Political Analyst and White House reporter for the Associated Press Seung Min Kim.

So, some interesting questions being raised here that go to the heart of actually, I think, the Trump case, which is that he's not the only person to be charged with mishandling national security documents. One of the other people is Jack Teixeira, that National Guardsman, who was recently charged. And now his lawyers are saying, well, if you're letting this guy out on bail and he's able to walk free and campaign around the country, why can't I?

MARIO PARKER, NATIONAL POLITICS TEAM LEADER, BLOOMBERG: No, it's a smart strategy on his lawyer's part, for sure. But I think one thing is telling, the silence that you're hearing from Republicans, right, in contrast to what you hear when Donald Trump was indicted, they came racing to his defense. I'm thinking of Lindsey Graham, for example. But Lindsey Graham also cautioned Republicans in coming to Teixeira's defense as well. So, you're seeing the contrast and distortions that the party has to make between the loyalty to Trump and then just looking at the case on its merit.

PHILLIP: Yes. And, Seung Min, I want to get to you on this other thing that's very important here, which is when we talk about Trump and where this is all headed for a potential second term, if he is able to run, he's trying to make the argument, according to The New York Times, that the plans for a second term would basically involve taking over parts of the government that are supposed to be independent, at least as we know them right now, and making them part of the control of the president alone.

Here's what The Times says. Trump and his associates have a broader goal, to alter the balance of power by increasing the president's authority over every part of the federal government that now operates by either law or tradition with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House. That is a huge sea change for how the government typically works.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, I think all of us know from covering President Trump's first term in office that he is not someone who believes in the concept of checks and balances. And we know that from all of our reporting that he was even restrained at times during his four years in office because there were people around him that told him, no, this is a guardrail that we cannot pass. These are sort of norms that we cannot break. And also he was running for a re-election, and he didn't want to push the boundaries anymore than he had to.

But this remarkable reporting from The New York Times shows that he is willing to let go and really go through all of those boundaries in terms of how much executive power is concentrated in the Oval Office, the potential easy firing of civil servants, which I thought was a really remarkable piece of -- part of that plan, and just complete disregard for the legislative power of Congress.

[07:10:12]

And it was reminding me of some of the other ways that he tried to push the boundaries while in office. And, you know, think of the time that he tried to go around Congress to get money for that border wall. And while Republicans did push back at the time, not enough, I would say.

So, it will be really interesting to see just how this plan materializes. I would be really interesting to see how other Republicans respond to this plan, if they agree with this vision and how he kind pushes this idea going forward.

PHILLIP: And a key piece of this is the Justice Department as well, which is supposed to operate independently in terms of its investigations. Trump and his allies, they want to change that.

WILLIAMS: No, absolutely. And, look, the former president fired an attorney general in the form of Jeff Sessions a couple of years ago over the fact that Jeff Sessions, who's unabashedly not a Democrat, but Jeff Sessions got fired for not sufficiently queuing to the line that the former president wanted him to.

Look, I was talking with another former federal prosecutor the other day who said that I don't think Trump ever goes to trial because they figure out a way to push this past 2024, get a new Justice Department in, one that you can pardon everybody affiliated with it and just take the case off the trial calendar all together.

So, this would be in line with at least how the former president governed in the past. Who knows what he would do a second time around, but history seems to be a guide.

MATTINGLY: I got to be honest. I'm a little disappointed in you guys. This was kind of, in my view, the perfect 30-minute panel on the unitary theory of the executive, which is really where we were going to go.

PHILLIP: We're going to need another hour.

MATTINGLY: That's fine. We're good with that, right?

But I think what is striking, and The Times did such a great job of bringing this all together, we have known that there are kind of outside nonprofit groups that have been putting together a policy infrastructure here. There have been key players from the former Trump orbit that have moved on into kind of an outside role of crafting an actual policy plan and an actual policy infrastructure.

And I think that's what's been striking to me, Mario, is because so much of those first four years were just pure chaos and him kind of flitting about based on wherever his mind was on that particular day. This is structurally very different in terms of a second term plan.

PARKER: No, absolutely. Recall in 2016, they were caught off guard by his win. The binder that Chris Christie, who was then the transition director, that was tossed into the garbage can as well. You've got essentially a bunch of ex-Trump officials who have seated at many of the think tanks. We're talking Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, America First Policy Institute as well.

And when you speak to some of these Republicans, they say that, hey, we want to hit the ground running with a second term. They've got personnel already, spreadsheets with personnel already outlined. They've got policies outlined as well. So, they're looking to really give Trump essentially a menu from which to choose from on day one.

And one other point that I'd like to make on this is the fact that Trump is exploiting this metamorphosis that he accelerated with the Republican Party, one that favored small government, but now is favoring a distrust of government.

WILLIAMS: And at its core, there's nothing wrong with an incoming administration setting a policy agenda and having the people that it wants, a certain government --

MATTINGLY: You should probably want that.

WILLIAMS: We should want that because it's the smooth of government. The problem is the violations of norms. And when you're talking about firing attorneys general, secretaries of state, cabinet officials simply for not even disagreeing with the president, not behaving in a lawful manner, for lack of a better way to put it, then you have a problem. And I think we're starting to see the early signs of some of that were there to be a second term.

MATTINGLY: All right. Elliot Williams, Seung Min, Mario, thanks, guys. I appreciate it.

Well, a CNN exclusive, Florida Governor and GOP Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis joins Jake Tapper one-on-one on the campaign trail. Hear how he plans to take on Trump, perhaps some of his policy proposals. This interview begins today at 4:00 P.M. Eastern. Don't miss it.

PHILLIP: And we have some breaking news now. A U.S. national is believed to be in North Korea in custody after crossing the military demarcation line into North Korea during a tour of the joint security area. That's according to the United Nations Command, which says it is working with counterparts in North Korea's army to resolve the incident. We are following that story very closely and we will bring you more details as they come in here.

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[07:15:00]

MATTINGLY: And we are continuing to following the breaking news just in, a U.S. national is believed to be in North Korean custody after crossing the military demarcation line into North Korea during a tour of the joint security area. That is according to the United Nations Command, which says it is working with counterparts of North Korea's army to resolve the incident. Kylie Atwood from the State Department and Will Ripley in the region are working on the story. They will join us momentarily. We're going to keep you posted throughout the morning as we learn more about this breaking development.

PHILLIP: But right now, a live look at Phoenix, Arizona, where temperatures are expected to reach a staggering 117 degrees today, continuing a record-breaking streak of 19 consecutive days above 110.

Now, the deadly and unrelenting heat wave is beating down on a Americans across the United States. Around 65 million people are now under heat alerts from Florida to California. And according to a top U.K.-based climate advisory group, quote, heat hell is worldwide now, stretching from Southern Europe to China.

So, let's get straight to CNN's Derek Van Dam with the forecast here. There is so much going on here and none of it is good.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we're actually living out this heat hell in real-time, both in D.C. where you are, in Atlanta where I'm located as well.

I think what's so astounding is how widespread these climate related weather alerts happen to be. It seems like nobody is immune to that.

[07:20:00]

We've got our excessive heat warnings. We've got air quality alerts because of wildfire smokes and also flashflood alerts.

I think Abby said it best at the 6:00 hour, what's next? Little tiny locusts taking over? I mean, what is this? Downtown Atlanta, this is a clear picture. Reminds me of New York a couple of weeks ago, right? The downtown buildings barely discernible because that is how thick the wildfire smoke currently is. And, people, that is unhealthy to breathe. It is unhealthy for sensitive groups, young, the old, everyone in between as well.

And it blankets much of the eastern seaboard. You can see it from Atlanta to Charlotte, D.C. to New York, all the way to Boston and Portland, although some areas not as thick as what we're experiencing across the southeast.

The good news is a cold front will clear things out quickly across the southeast and kind of just move the smoke around and dissipate it in some places and thicken it up in others.

Now, the other big climate related story is, of course, the excessive heat that is breaking records, over 190 record temperatures possible over the days to come, triple-digit heat for so many locations. And if you're looking for a bit of relief in Phoenix, you have to wait until Monday of next week. And I say that with a bit of sarcasm. You can literally cut the sarcasm with a knife in here, just as thick as the smoke is outside, high of 114 next week. Is that relief? Abby, Phil?

PHILLIP: I mean, not only is it not relief, but it's extremely dangerous. Derek, as you're talking about the hot temperatures in the air, I'm also wondering about what's happening in the water as we head into the fall and what that means as our forecast potentially goes into hurricane season.

VAN DAM: Well, the water temperatures are excessively warm. In fact, we are reaching global record temperature territory, especially across the Florida Keys and off the Florida Peninsula. And what that's doing is just adding potential fuel for hurricanes if and when they do develop as we enter into the peak season of hurricane season.

Some of the moisture that's across the northeast, this is all related to the tropics as well in some far stretch, but it's enough to allow for more rainfall across the northeast, and it's being aided by our friend there, the Atlantic Ocean. That is above average in terms of temperatures. Abby?

PHILLIP: All right. Derek Van Dam, thank you. We'll keep you on the line for our forecast for the end of times here.

But back to our breaking news right now.

MATTINGLY: Yes, the U.S. national that is believed to be in North Korean custody, we are still following this story. We are getting new reporting as we speak. This is just happening now.

Priscilla Alvarez is at the White House with more. Priscilla? I know this is fast-moving, and I definitely know these early moments when you're trying to get people on the phone to figure out what's going on. What do we know, at least at this point, from the Biden administration?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Phil. I've reached out to the White House to get comment on this and try to get additional details as to what they know in our monitoring. But here's what we know so far according to a tweet from the United Nations Command. They said that a U.S. national on a joint security area tour crossed without authorization the military demarcation line into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We believe he is currently in custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve the incident.

Now, this is an orientation tour that is located inside the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea and is organized by the UNC, and is open to the general public.

So, these are the details that we have so far. Simply that a U.S. national is believed to be in North Korean custody. As you know, Phil, the detainment of American citizens is a top priority for the White House when it happens abroad. So, this is a situation that we can imagine. The White House is closely monitoring and is aware of. But, again, we have reached out for comment to see what more they can tell us about this situation. So far, all we know, again, is this tweet from the United Nations Command that a U.S. national is in North Korean custody. Phil?

MATTINGLY: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, keep us posted. Stay close by. I know this is fast-moving and you've got people to talk to on the phone.

Right now we want to shift over to Will Ripley, who's live for us in Taipei. And, Will, I want to start with what you've heard, at least up to this point in these early moments about what actually happened, but also some context given your experience in that area of where this actually is, what may have actually happened here based on when you've been down there.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is really fascinating to think that we are now in the year 2023 and you have apparent U.S. national crossing the military demarcation line in this very almost at the cold war relic feeling village, Panmunjom is what it's called. And, basically, there are these buildings and half of the building is in North Korea, half of the building is in South Korea, and there's a table in the middle.

And what the two sides would do back when they were talking in that way is that they would actually sit at the table. One would sit on the north side, one would sit on the south side, and that's how they communicated. That's how they signed the armistice that essentially put the Korean War on pause but never officially ended the Korean War. That's one of the contentious issues still facing the two Koreas to this day.

[07:25:03]

So, for somebody to actually walk across, it's not a very long distance that they would have to travel. You're talking about a matter of a few footsteps.

Now, there are armed soldiers that are there. This is called the demilitarized zone, but actually the DMD is anything but demilitarized. It's a very dangerous area if you step off course. There are mines. Of course, the soldiers carry weapons. There are sniper towers. So, this is not a place that somebody would want to be just casually walking around, even though the natural beauty of it is quite something.

Americans have tried to claim refuge inside North Korea before. I remember interviewing a New York University College student who landed on a tourist trip in North Korea back when that was still happening, before the pandemic kind of hermetically sealed the borders. And I asked him why he did what he did. And at that point, after kind of sitting in an isolation jail cell and having eight-hour work days of lifting rocks, basically in his own private prison, certainly not the conditions that North Korean prisoners have, much nicer for Western prisoners in that country. But he was presented to us, presented to the media, because they used him in North Korean propaganda, and then they were ready to get that American out.

Now, Otto Warmbier, another student who was arrested, obviously, had a very different outcome. That was a horrible, tragic case. We were in North Korea when we found out that he had died. But the vast majority of Americans detained there, guys, they are basically held in their own private prison, and then they're used as some sort of a leverage for a period of months or perhaps even a bit longer. They might even go through a trial in North Korea, but then eventually, they will be released and sent back to the United States, sent back home to their families.

PHILLIP: All right. Will Ripley, thank you for that.

And back to you, Priscilla, over at the White House. In a situation like this, there's always constant tensions with North Korea. How is the White House handling a moment like this with potentially another detained American in a place where we don't have the best at diplomatic relations at all right now?

ALVAREZ: That's right. They're really relying on backchannels and the conversations they can have with allies in the region. So, you would have U.S. officials talking to counterparts not in North Korea necessarily, but whoever they have in that region to try to get an understanding, for example, with United Nations Command as to who this person is, what the circumstances were around them crossing into North Korea.

So, these are questions that we have currently and ones that the White House is trying to answer with U.S. officials, in touch with officials abroad on this situation, including in this situation where we know this was a U.S. national who was on a tour, again, one that is open to the general public and trying to understand what the circumstances were of this person crossing this demarcation line.

So, of course, Abby, there are a lot of questions here. It's a fast- evolving situation and one that the White House and administration officials are going to be working around the clock to get their arms around as they try to find some resolution here.

MATTINGLY: Hey, Will, back to you. As I've covered the White House over the course of the last couple of years, I think every month or two, I would check in with the NSC, say, hey, I know you guys have tried to open lines of communications with the North Koreans, has there been any progress? The answer has always been a very firm and unequivocal no, saying that there is still an opportunity there, they are still willing to talk, but there has been no reciprocation at any point.

I'm wondering, as we try and figure out what exactly happened here on the ground, the context of the relationship right now with the escalating missile tests and obviously no communication, whatsoever, who would the U.S. officials have talking to the North Koreans in this moment as they try and figure this out?

RIPLEY: At the moment, there's no official line of communication, Phil. And so you kind of hit the nail on the head. This is not a great time to be an American detained in North Korea because the North Koreans have really no desire at the moment to do business with the United States.

That all kind of business fell apart in Hanoi, Vietnam, when President Trump and Kim Jong-un sat down for a while. President Trump ended up walking out of that meeting, getting back on the plane, going back to Washington, where he was preoccupied with a flurry of domestic matters that he was facing, impeachment being one of the biggest one.

But Kim Jong-un was left with an empty plate at the lunch, having to go back on his train after telling his own people that he was going to go and negotiate with the United States, and he was left humiliated.

So, during the Kim Jong-un lifetime, I doubt that we'll ever see diplomacy with North Korea again. He feels emboldened to launch as many missiles as he wants and test as many nuclear weapons as he wants now because he basically has the support, even unspoken, but the support of China and Russia, who will veto anything at the U.N. Security Council that would tighten the already incredibly tight sanctions on North Korea that have been unable to stop the nuclear program.

[07:30:00]

So, there were other U.S. servicemen who've defected to North Korea. Some of them have really interesting stories. Some of them ended up appearing on North Korean movies at playing.