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Ohio Voters Reject GOP-Backed Measure in Key Victory for Abortion Rights Advocates; George D.A. Likely to President Case Against Trump Next Week; Possible Shark Sightings Shut Down New York Beaches After Attack. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 09, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: An Ohio special election becomes a crucial new litmus test on abortion rights here in America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They voted down the effort to make it harder to amend the state Constitution.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the most salient, galvanizing, political issue for women on the left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a wakeup call to Republicans, the problems politically that they are facing in a post-Roe world have not gone away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fulton County District Attorney Fanie Willis will likely present her case to the grand jury next week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Atlanta-based prosecutor has been lining up witnesses in the investigation of Donald Trump and, of course, his allies who were trying to overturn election results in Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's trending in that direction. She's had months, if not years, to pull all of this together.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Trump sweating, swearing and ranting in New Hampshire and issues a darkly familiar warning about what he'll do in 2024.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm sitting in a courtroom on (BLEEP) because his attorney general charged me with something.

COOPER: Meantime, his closest opponent, Ron DeSantis, continued his staff shakeup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is when things go badly with a campaign manager is that when things go badly with the campaign, you usually get blamed for it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Montgomery, Alabama Police Department identified suspects in that chaotic brawl on a boat dock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three white men have been charged with third- degree assault for their involvement in the incident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see stuff like that on the T.V., but to see it live.

CHIEF DARRYL ALBERT, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA POLICE: It's highly likely that more arrests, more individuals will face charges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The artist and rapper, Megan Thee Stallion faced sexist and misogynistic attacks for reporting a shooting where she was the victim. A judge sentencing Tory Lanez to ten years in prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The punishment fits the crime. I think this is accountability season, finally.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's the top of the hour. We are so glad you're with us on CNN This Morning. And as you saw, there's a lot of news to get to and a lot of developments overnight.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, things happening right now we need to get to.

HARLOW: Yes. We'll talk about Ohio first this morning. Abortion right advocates are celebrating a crucial victory after a high-stakes special election in that state. 57 percent of Ohio voters rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it harder to change Ohio's Constitution and protect a woman's access to abortion when it goes on the ballot this November.

BLACKWELL: Under the failed measure, a 60 percent supermajority of votes would have been required instead of a simple majority. And this comes after lawmakers in Ohio and other Republican-controlled states passed abortion bans. Critics of this Ohio measure called it a power grab.

The voter turnout here was massive, especially for an August election in an off year. More than 1 million more Ohioans voted in this election than in last year's primary.

CNN's Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is live in Columbus. Message received from the voters there in Ohio.

JEFF ZELENY, CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Poppy. A loud message and a rare rebuke of Republican power here in Ohio. And, of course, Republican leaders scheduled this special election on a Tuesday in August. Many critics said to try and slip this through when people weren't noticing. Well, exactly the opposite happened.

As you said, a record turnout for an August election, not much precedent for that in recent times. But suburban voters, urban voters, a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans roundly rejected this amendment that would have raised the bar for an amendment in November to put abortion rights on the ballot. That will go forward.

But this was also about more than abortion. Certainly, the issue was the driving force here, but also a minimum wage proposal that is likely coming next year. And simply just a power grab, as many critics saw it.

At a victory party last night, that coalition had this to say.

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DENNIS WILLARD, SPOKESMAN, ONE PERSON ONE VOTE: Ohio, we did it. We did it. Tonight is a major victory for democracy in Ohio. The majority still rules in Ohio.

DR. MARCELA AZEVEDO, OHIOANS UNITED FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Together, we have delivered this unbelievable and amazing, but, yes, absolutely true result of what Ohioans really want.

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[07:05:04]

ZELENY: Of course, this all started because hundreds of thousands of petitions were signed to put that issue of the abortion ballot on the measure in November. And this was an effort to raise the bar and make that more complicated. That failed. The November ballot goes on.

HARLOW: Right. So, November, this will be on the ballot in Ohio, a crucial state, not to mention, in the general election upcoming. What would it change there?

ZELENY: Well, look, I mean, there was a 2019 law passed here, Poppy, that effectively banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy without exceptions for rape or incest. That law has been on hold by the courts. But if this constitutional amendment on abortion rights would pass in November, it would simply make Ohio fall in line with several other states that we have seen, like Michigan most recently, enshrine the protection of abortion rights into the state's Constitution.

And we saw in our CNN national poll yesterday that 64 percent of Americans disagree with the Supreme Court overturning Roe versus Wade. So, Ohio becomes the latest examples of red states and blue states where if the citizens have their say, they are voting on the side of abortion rights.

But, again, this was about more than that here in Ohio. It was about trying to change the rules in the process. We don't know how the percentage here, 57 percent, will line up with the question in November. But now, they simply need a simple majority of 50 percent to put abortion rights in the state Constitution.

What it also means, though, is that Republicans certainly have some thinking to do about how abortion plays into their party platform because the voters here have spoken. This will be a driving issue, Democrats hope, going into the 2024 election as well. Victor and Poppy?

BLACKWELL: Certainly. Jeff Zeleny for us there, thank you, Jeff.

HARLOW: Also new this morning, we're getting our first look at a key piece of evidence in the investigation into former President Trump and the efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The New York Times has obtained a memo written by unindicted co-conspirator number 5. That is Attorney Kenneth Cheseboro. The, quote, fraudulent elector memo was first mentioned in the indictment that came down last week, but we haven't seen the memo until now.

And while we know the contours of the fake elector scheme, this memo shows how it evolved and how it was discussed behind the scenes. In it, Cheseboro writes, the Supreme Court would likely end up ruling that the power to count the votes does not line with the president of the Senate, meaning Mike Pence at the time. But even if it failed, he wrote, that it would do two things, quote, buy the Trump campaign more time and would, quote, deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump's column.

He also suggested what he was writing here proposing was a bold and controversial strategy. In this indictment, prosecutors say the memo shows the orchestration of a fake controversy would derail the proper certification of Biden as president-elect.

BLACKWELL: This morning CNN has learned that Fulton County District Fani Willis will likely be in front of an Atlanta area grand jury next week presenting her case against Donald Trump. Sources say she may seek several indictments as she eyes a potential racketeering case that could cast Trump and his allies as operating a criminal enterprise to upend Georgia's 2020 election results.

CNN's Sara Murray joins us live from Washington, D.C. And, Sara, for some time now, we have seen the barricades go up around the county courthouse, the security profile increasing. Now, we know potentially the timing of taking it to the grand jury.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're going to get a better sense of the timing. It is looking like Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will make her presentation before the grand jury at some point next week. She's already been lining up these witnesses and telling them essentially you need to be on a 48-hour notice to appear and testify before the grand jury. And these are people that already testified before a special grand jury that spent months investigating this case.

So, prosecutors already know what these witnesses are going to say. It's not about gleaning new information from them, but it's about using them to craft a narrative before the grand jury that they are going to seek indictments from, people who can talk about the fake elector scheme, people who can talk about the presentation Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies made before Georgia state lawmakers that was riddled with conspiracies. And when I was talking to legal experts for our story on this, they said, look, in a case of this magnitude, her indictments are probably already done, already written and have been done for weeks, if not months. If anything, she's probably making the finishing tweaks and touches ahead of this grand jury presentation next week, guys.

HARLOW: Trump spoke about this last night at that rally in New Hampshire. Pretty much what we expected him to say, yes?

MURRAY: Yes. I mean, he has been very harsh in his criticism of this black Democratic district attorney from the south, and we saw more of that last night.

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Take a listen to what he said.

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TRUMP: I probably have another one. They say there's a young woman, a young racist in Atlanta, racist.

And this is a person that wants to indict me. She has a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try to run for some other office.

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MURRAY: Now, this is nothing that the district attorney's office or the public has not heard from Donald Trump before, but it obviously comes at a time where there's a heightened security presence. And she's been very clear she and her team have faced a number of threats as a result of this tenor around this investigation. They have been kind of inclined to brush off what Trump says publicly, although she has said previously to reporters that she draws the line, and if Trump comes out with direct threats against her, her staff, her family. Guys?

BLACKWELL: All right. Sara Murray for us, thank you.

HARLOW: Possible shark sightings shut down several beaches in New York yesterday. This is a day after a shark attacked a 56-year-old woman.

CNN-affiliate WCBS got this photo of first responders treating her on a beach right in New York City. Police say she was standing in the water, just standing there when she felt a sharp pain on her leg and fell backward into the ocean.

Our National Correspondent Miguel Marquez is live from Rockaway Beach. Gosh, Miguel, I spent a lot of days there. This is in Queens. This is in New York City.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are sharks here as well. This beach, Rockaway Beach, is closed. You can see the beach is open but it's closed to swimming. You can see the red flags for as far as the eye can see.

There were two possible shark sightings just east of here yesterday and then one confirmed shark sighting west of here. Those beaches shut down for a short time. Usually, it shut down for an hour when they have a possible shark sighting and then they open them back up. This one, they have closed. They may open it up later today because they are going to have drone patrols up over the beach.

I want to show you this, though. This is the beach where that happened, where that 65-year-old woman was attacked. First time in 70 years, as far as we can tell, that a shark has bitten somebody here. But look at all the birds out there. I don't know if you can catch that but there are lots and lots of birds out there feeding on school of fish and that's what brings wildlife, like sharks, into this area.

I can tell you that there's very few people -- we saw a couple of surfers earlier in the water, which they are not supposed to be, because there is no swimming right now, but this is the beach. She was standing in sort of waist-high water out here. The shark came up and bit her left thigh, the back of her thigh, bleeding very, very badly. It was a very serious injury. And thanks to the lifeguards out here, they put a tourniquet on her. They were able to get her to emergency care. And it looks like she's going to make a recovery, but very, very scary.

The question now for New Yorkers, it's summer, just when you want to go into the water, are they going to be able to open up the beaches today? Back to you guys.

HARLOW: Wow. Miguel, I hope she's going to be okay. Really, really scary. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Hey, if you know somebody in Neptune Beach, Florida, check on them.

HARLOW: Call them.

BLACKWELL: Just send them a hey you text message this morning, because that's where one ticketholder is a lot richer after winning the $1.58, don't for the 0.08, billion dollar mega millions jackpot. Here are the last night's winning numbers, 13, 19, 20, 32, 33, 14 is the mega ball. It's expected to be the largest prize in the game's history. The ticket was sold at a public supermarket in Neptune Beach.

And that's where we find Reporter Aaron Farrar from our CNN-affiliate WJXT. Aaron, I used to live there. I know that Publix well. Tell us about the excitement there after selling this ticket.

AARON FARRAR, REPORTER, WJXT: Well, there's a lot of buzz here. People are just excited that there's some history that happened right inside this building behind me. The doors opened about ten minutes ago at 7:00. Some people didn't even know what was going on. They stopped us and said, hey, what's the excitement going on here? And when they heard that winning ticket was sold here, of course, some people were a little disappointed and they wish it were them. But at the same time, they were excited for whoever this person was that's out there right now who is $1.58 billion richer.

We're going to show you as people are starting to go inside. Some people are already inside shopping. I'm pretty sure they are talking with each other inside, also the workers as well. But, of course, whoever that lucky person is, they have about 180 days to claim that prize. There are a couple things they should do immediately. Of course, they're excited. They are probably not even realizing right now the severity of what just happened to them.

But once all that wears off, there are some things that they should do immediately. They should document that winning. They should first document that winning. They should take some pictures of both the front and back of that ticket. And then they should store that somewhere where only they know where it is. And it's a place where they can access that easily. Then they should consider and strongly consider hiring an attorney or some type of financial adviser to walk them through this process and this should be someone who is an expert or a specialist in dealing with this kind of wealth.

[07:15:05]

And in those same people on that team should also review the lottery rules for this winner before they sign the original ticket.

Again, that person has 180 days to claim that ticket and they have to do that over in Tallahassee, the state capital, or at the Florida lottery headquarters. They can do that in person or set up an appointment to meet with officials there, representatives there, to claim their ticket. In Florida, when it comes to the mega millions, you cannot remain anonymous. So, this person -- we will know this person eventually but we don't know when that's going to be. But they have six months or so to do it.

HARLOW: Victor is hoping it's a buddy from his time --

BLACKWELL: You know, this is the thing. I'm telling everybody to text or call your people in Neptune Beach. My advice for the person who won, don't answer any texts from anybody who texts, hey, you, after six years away, right?

FARRAR: That's right, change that number real quick.

BLACKWELL: Change that number. Aaron Farrar for us there from WJXT Channel 4, the local station in Jacksonville, thanks so much.

All right, police say more arrests could be on the way after shocking video showed a group of white boaters brawling with a black river boat co-captain in Montgomery, Alabama. Coming up, the city's mayor will join us live.

HARLOW: We're also going to be joined this hour by the lieutenant governor of Hawaii, where a hurricane is whipping up huge wildfires. People are actually jumping in the ocean to escape the flames.

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BLACKWELL: Breaking news just into CNN, 41 people have died in a migrant ship wreck off the coast of Italy. That's according to the Red Cross. This happened near the tourist island of Lampedusa. Survivors tell the Red Cross the ship left Tunisia several days ago.

It's unclear how many people in total were on board. A three-year-old child and a pregnant woman are among the dead. Rough seas and 13-foot waves are said to have contributed to the shipwreck. They said passengers were wearing life jackets and survivors were able to crawl on remnants of different shipwreck boats there. Almost 94,000 people have arrived in Italy by boat this year, according to the government.

We, of course, will continue to follow this story and get you more as we get it.

HARLOW: And we certainly will.

Now to this breaking news out of Hawaii, ongoing right now, a state of emergency in effect this morning as wind-fueled wildfires are burning dangerously close to homes. Officials say strong winds from Hurricane Dora are fueling these fires that have burned multiple structures in Maui. Also on the big island, evacuations are ongoing right now. And the Coast Guard says a dozen people were rescued after they jumped into the ocean to escape the flames.

Joining us now is the lieutenant governor of Hawaii, Sylvia Luke. Lieutenant Governor, thank you very much. Is this unprecedented in the history of Hawaii?

LT. GOV. SYLVIA LUKE (D-HI): No. Thank you for doing this, Poppy and Victor. It is unprecedented. When we deal with hurricane and disasters following hurricane, we're usually dealing with heavy rain, we're with flooding. The fact that we have wildfires in multiple areas as a result of indirectly from a hurricane is unprecedented. It's something that Hawaii residents in the state have not experienced. And the fact that we have winds in the high 70s and still in the low 80s quickly spreading wildfires across highways and into different neighborhoods, this is the last time spoke to CNN, it has turned very serious and very dire.

BLACKWELL: Lieutenant Governor, we're looking at pictures, and these really tell the story of just how dire this is. Often when we talk about these wildfires, we're talking about damage to agriculture, maybe some structures, but there are injuries related to these. The hospitals are being stressed. Explain how this is hurting people physically.

LUKE: Oh, absolutely. And our hospital system on Maui, they are overburdened with burn patients, people suffering from inhalation. We are already in communication with other hospital systems about relieving the burden. The reality is that we need to fly people out of Maui to give them burn support because Maui hospital cannot do burn treatment. So, we're dealing with -- because we're an island state. In addition to dealing with disaster, we're dealing with major transportation issues as well. HARLOW: We have heard that 911 is down, not working at least in some parts of Western Maui. Is that correct?

LUKE: No, absolutely. 911 is down. Cell service is down. Phone service is down. And that's been part of the problem. The Maui County has not been able to communicate with residents on the west side, Lahaina side. And what we are trying to do is deploy individuals to go into areas with satellite phone service. We have only been in contact with perhaps one hotel because the one hotel, the people in charge of that hotel has satellite phone. And that's the only way to make connection. And it's impeding communication. It's impeding efforts to evacuate residents. And we are very concerned about that.

BLACKWELL: Evacuating the residents, yes, but also the tourists who are there as well. What is the plan? I know that this is a fast-moving situation. But what's the plan to get to those people who are there for just a short time?

LUKE: Yes, absolutely. So, one of the things that happened is we worked with our airports to ensure that airlines are not flying into Maui.

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And one of the things that we are doing is making contact with the hotels to get them evacuated, if we can. We are already working with local airline to see if we can get tourists off the island to at least house them on another island, like O'ahu, so that we don't overly tax some of the resources that will be going to Maui.

HARLOW: What do you need from the federal government?

LUKE: One of the things that we need, we have already made contact with the White House to declare an emergency. We're going to need FEMA support. We're going to need clearly National Guard support. We're going to need a lot of foot traffic and foot support in order to go into neighborhoods. Because the only way of communication is either satellite service or talking to individuals. Our shelters amazingly had to be moved because of fire. These wildfires are moving very quickly, even as we speak.

HARLOW: We appreciate it. We wish you luck. We're thinking of all of you. Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii Sylvia Luke, thank you.

LUKE: Thank you so much. Thank you for your concern.

HARLOW: Of course.

BLACKWELL: New overnight, the police chief in Montgomery, Alabama, is telling CNN he expects more arrests after an all-out brawl broke out on the city's river front on Saturday.

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ALBERT: We are surely looking at every piece of evidence that's come in. We have hundreds of videos and witness statements at this time. And I would say at this point, it's highly likely that more arrests, more individuals will face charges.

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BLACKWELL: CNN-affiliate WSFA obtained this mug shot of one of the white men accused of attacking a black river boat co-captain. Richard Roberts is facing two counts of third-degree assault.

A video shows a group of white boaters hitting and punching the river boat co-captain while he's there on the ground. Eventually, more people joined in fighting on both sides. Police say it happened after he had asked the men to move a pontoon boat so the river boat could dock in its designated spot.

HARLOW: Joining us now is the mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, Steven Reed. Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here. I'm sorry it is under these circumstances. It is just appalling to see what happened. Some have been charged, but it was very clear from the police chief on CNN last night there will be potentially additional charges for maybe those people and also more people charged. Can you detail what you're expecting?

MAYOR STEVEN REED (D-MONTGOMERY, AL): Sure. First, good morning, thank you for having me. It's certainly disturbing video. And consequently, we're not leaving any stone unturned in this investigation. We're looking at everything we have seen, everything that has been reported to us by witnesses as well as those things that have been sent in by other bystanders.

This is a very serious situation. It's important that people understand that we're a welcoming community in Montgomery. We're always open for business and we enjoy the tourism that comes here because of our proud civil rights history, but you have to obey the law. You have to obey authority. And what we saw in that video was someone and a group of people did not.

BLACKWELL: You mentioned the city's civil rights history, and that is important context for what we saw on that video. When you saw it for the first time, you called it disturbing, give me more. What did you feel and think when you first saw it?

REED: Well, I was surprised, certainly shocked even. To see someone doing their job get attacked just by asking a person to move their vehicle. In this case, it was a boat. That's something that I think shows a lack of respect for an individual. And I just didn't appreciate someone that's working to secure the safety of others who were on that boat being approached like that. And I think that's an issue.

And I think our police department has done a great job in putting aside any emotion or what could have been and really looking at the facts. And I think that's what led to the arrests yesterday and there are two others who were supposed to turn themselves in who did not. And since they didn't, we may have to go pick them up and give them a ride.

BLACKWELL: Have you spoken with -- let me first confirm. Damien Pickett, the black man who was attacked, he's a city employee?

REED: No, these are contract employees.

BLACKWELL: Okay. Have you spoken with him?

REED: I have not at this time.

BLACKWELL: Do you plan to?

REED: Yes. We'll speak to all of those that were working on the Harriet as we kind of go through this investigation. It's something for us to make sure we're dotting all our Is and crossing our Ts as we go through this. But, certainly, we expect to do that, as well as some of the others.

[07:30:01]

Now, the police have spoken to Mr. Pickett, gotten testimony from him about what took place.