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Georgia DA Seeks March 4, 2024 Trial Date For Trump; Blinken Speaks By Phone With Detained American In Russia; "Big Short" Investor Bets $1.6 Billion On A Stock Market Crash. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired August 17, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:31:12]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking right now at live pictures from outside the Fulton County jail. That's where Donald Trump and his co-defendants have to turn themselves in by next Friday.
If the district attorney Fani Willis has her way, Donald Trump will be facing trial in Georgia the day before Super Tuesday. It's a big if, but Willis asked for the judge -- asked the judge for a March fourth start date for Trump and his 18 co-defendants who are accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. A trial would be just one of several potential trials that would collide directly with the 2024 presidential campaign schedule. Willis' date, however, just a proposal. The judge gets the final say.
And this just in. We're seeing the first polling since these indictments in Georgia. According to an ABC-IPSOS poll, 47 percent say the charges are very serious, and 16 percent say they're somewhat serious.
Joining us now to talk about all of this, two witnesses who testified before the Fulton County grand jury on Monday just hours before that indictment was returned. CNN political commentator and former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan; and former Georgia state senator Jen Jordan.
Guys, I want to start with the reporting we had at the top of the show from Donie O'Sullivan in terms of the jurors. You spoke to them -- you both spoke to them. You both said they took their jobs very seriously. It was a very sober and heavy kind of moment.
Their names were in, as they were supposed to be based on Georgia law, the indictment. They are now being doxed. Their names are now floating around. There are threats being directed to them.
You guys, I think, have faced similar types of threats over the course of the last couple of years. What's your response to what we're seeing right now?
JEN JORDAN, (D) FORMER GEORGIA STATE SENATOR: Yeah. I think this is just kind of a prelude of what's to come. I wish that Georgia law didn't require their names to be in there, but it does. But it is incredibly serious.
The lieutenant governor and I both had significant threats against our lives and our families. And look, we played such a small role. But if you have Trump supporters who really look at these grand jurors as kind of the reason that this case is going forward -- you know, with Trump saying this isn't true -- these are lies -- I mean, these people's lives are in danger and their families are in danger, and it's very, very serious.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: I keep thinking about whether that law needs to be amended in Georgia for such high-profile RICO -- especially, cases like this. The Trump one is one. It's terrible what's happening. I mean, their names are just, like, right there on page nine in the indictment. But the other young thug case that's going on right now, and there's just a lot of high-profile cases that these jurors have no choice whether their -- to participate.
GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (R) FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA: Right.
HARLOW: It's their constitutional duty. And whether their names are out there.
DUNCAN: Yeah, I had -- I had --
HARLOW: Can that law be amended?
DUNCAN: Yeah, I had no idea that was the law. It's certainly my first time going through this grand jury process as a -- as a witness. But, yeah, I can't imagine there's any value to publishing those names and putting them out there.
But I think this speaks to the culture that Donald Trump has built -- this culture of anger, right? And it's -- he's just confused so many goodhearted Republicans and folks all across the country to think that conservatism means you've got to be angry and loud, and visceral. That has nothing to do with conservatism.
And so, to think anybody would take out the angst on these folks or us, or anybody else that's been involved in this process of calling balls and strikes is painful.
JORDAN: Well, I think -- I think the bigger issue really is -- I mean, these are just the grand jurors. Can you imagine who is going to be sitting on the jury and what they're going to be subjected to?
MATTINGLY: We already saw the threat to the judge in the federal case.
JORDAN: Absolutely.
HARLOW: This law --
MATTINGLY: Judge Chutkan.
HARLOW: This law would be the same, right? As I understand it, this is not just about grand juries. Would this also be about the jury in Georgia in the criminal trial?
JORDAN: Well, they would -- it would -- you know, in Fulton County, there's going to be a camera, right? I mean --
HARLOW: Yes.
JORDAN: -- these folks are going to be on screen every day. Everyone is going to know who they are. Their lives are going to be turned upside down.
[07:35:00]
And so, just to be able to sit a jury of people who would be even willing to put their lives on the line is going to be really, really difficult. So it's something that we all need to be thinking about. I know that the D.A.'s office is. But it is -- you know, it's serious.
MATTINGLY: Geoff, flipping to the political side of things because you have been very clear for months now, including in the wake of this case, that this is the moment where Republicans need to pivot after the first indictment, the second indictment, and the third indictment, the fourth indictment.
There's a big debate coming up. You look at the new polling that we were just talking about. It's a snapshot. It doesn't tell the whole story, but I think we had 47 percent say the charges were very serious. Sixteen percent say somewhat serious. And there's some other polling showing 53 percent of Americans believe that he definitely did something illegal.
DUNCAN: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Obviously, if you just take a Republican primary electorate, I think it's much smaller by a significant degree.
In these first few days do you see any of what you wanted to happen for the party, even on the periphery, starting to happen?
DUNCAN: I do. There's certainly some motion starting to in a different direction, right? We're just hearing conversations. There's a lot of inquiries around what is next, right?
And I think you have to break this down as a business problem. Donald Trump went on a multi-year crime spree, and I think Americans -- and I think specifically, Republicans -- are starting to see that. Even the 35 percent of Republicans that are in love with Donald Trump are starting to realize it's an impossible mathematical equation to win the election.
And I think we have to break this down like a business problem, all right? We've got to attack -- if 35 percent are diehard in love with Donald Trump, then we need to go figure out who those 65 percent are and message to them.
And then we need to simplify it even more. Let's go figure out a way to short-circuit the caucuses in Iowa, in New Hampshire. Let's go take those big-dollar donors that are out there that haven't jumped in yet and them behind a full-scale effort to flip that 20 percent lead that Donald Trump's got in Iowa, and then roll it in New Hampshire. And now we can reset the -- reset the stage.
But there's never been a better time for GOP 2.0 to show up and to really lead with our policies, right? Instead of us talking about Donald Trump, what if we were talking about that only 36 percent of Americans -- Americans think Joe Biden is responsible enough to handle the economy.
MATTINGLY: But I feel like those calls --
HARLOW: Yes.
MATTINGLY: -- have been happening.
HARLOW: That was a bad new poll for him.
DUNCAN: Yes.
HARLOW: It just came out this morning.
DUNCAN: We should be talking about that.
MATTINGLY: But to your point, though, I feel those calls have been happening behind the scenes between pretty significant donors. Between Republican operatives for the last eight-10 months.
JORDAN: Yes.
DUNCAN: It's now or never. And I'm calling on candidates. I'm calling on -- I don't want to see more press conferences like Tim Scott's yesterday or Ron DeSantis', or Nikki Haley's where they kind of tiptoe around the issue. You need to call Donald Trump out for being a liar and on his way to being a felon, and we need to move forward as a -- as a Republican Party.
HARLOW: But they are going to get called out on the debate stage by people like Chris Christie for a financial deadline (PH).
DUNCAN: And they should.
JORDAN: But look -- and, Geoff, that's really commendable that -- we've been at this point together, right? We thought -- I thought January 6 was going to be that pivot point.
HARLOW: Yes.
JORDAN: If that couldn't be the pivot point, why do we think this is? And while you've been calling it out, everybody else in Georgia, in terms of Republicans, have been tiptoeing.
HARLOW: Well, Brian Kemp, this week --
DUNCAN: Yeah. That was the exception I was going to make.
HARLOW: An important --
DUNCAN: I think the play to run is Brian Kemp's play, right? Go put conservatism on display. Go win the right, go win the middle, and even get some folks on the left to beat a well-funded, well-name-ID'd opponent like Stacey Abrahms.
JORDAN: Yes. But, you know, the whole idea is that the governor was for Trump until he wasn't, right? And that's how it is. These folks who are looking at statewide runs in Georgia that are Republicans -- they aren't going to call him out -- and they aren't, and we know that. So while it's commendable and I really appreciate you doing that, the idea that this is some kind of pivot point -- I just don't think it is.
DUNCAN: I would argue Brian Kemp was against Donald Trump during COVID when we had to push back on that. He was against him when he made his own Senate nominee instead of taking Donald Trump's handpicked. Brian Kemp has been his own man for four years.
JORDAN: All right.
MATTINGLY: And by the way, he won by a significant margin in a state Trump and the --
HARLOW: That's a good point.
MATTINGLY: -- Republican senators lost.
DUNCAN: He beat David Purdue by 52 points.
MATTINGLY: That's a lot in politics.
HARLOW: That's a lot.
MATTINGLY: Yes, that's a lot. That's a lot.
Guys --
HARLOW: Guys, we enjoyed this.
MATTINGLY: Appreciate it.
HARLOW: Come back together.
JORDAN: Thank you.
HARLOW: Thank you very much. Former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, Jen Jordan, we appreciate it.
This also first on CNN. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone to American Paul Whelan who has been detained in Russia for more than four years. And a source tells CNN it was a long and a frank phone call with Blinken giving Whelan words of encouragement, telling him to keep the faith as they work to bring him home.
His brother, David, also spoke to CNN and says they view this as a really positive step.
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DAVID WHELAN, BROTHER OF PAUL WHELAN WHO IS DETAINED IN RUSSIA: I think that Sec. Blinken has obviously sent a message and that message is for Paul and for our family that the U.S. government is continuing to advocate for Paul and his release. And I think it's also a message for the Kremlin that the U.S. government hasn't let up and, in fact, their lead foreign policy person is willing to call a prisoner, which is I think astounding.
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HARLOW: So, U.S. officials do say Russia has not responded in a substantive way to the proposals raised so far. We'll keep a close eye on this.
[07:40:00]
MATTINGLY: Well, Christian Bale famously played Michael Burry in "The Big Short" -- an investor who made millions betting against the housing market. Next, what's behind his latest big bet on a stock market crash.
HARLOW: And this just in. It is still very much a Barbie world; we're just living in it. We'll show you the new records this movie has shattered.
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Clip from Paramount Pictures "The Big Short."
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HARLOW: That was Christian Bale playing hotshot investor Michael Burry in the Academy Award-winning film "The Big Short." The real Burry famously made millions betting against the housing market before the catastrophic collapse in 2008.
[07:45:08]
But now Wall Street investors are -- well, he is taking notice of -- Wall Street investors are taking notice of his latest wager despite very successful years for the Nasdaq and the S&P. Burry has bet more than $1.6 billion on the market crashing, apparently putting a big chunk -- more than 90 percent of his portfolio -- on that. But there's a little more to it.
Let's have our Julia Chatterley join us now for more on this. People pay attention to what he does. What's he really doing here?
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Yeah, that's a great question. You know, my first boss in finance said to me Julia, to be a great trader you need to be right 51 percent of the time. And the Hermione Granger in me thought I'm going to hate this job -- and actually, he was right. But the same rule applies here.
What he's done is buy insurance. He's taken big bets that will make money if the market goes down. Beyond that, it's tough to see what else is going on. These bets may still not be valid. They may have run off by now. We don't know really in terms of what the market was doing whether this was part of a bigger strategy. So you have to be a bit careful.
I can tell you in that awful previous life I used to do this a lot with clients. And what I would do is protect what they owned already if I thought turbulence was coming or I thought that the market may trip over. And if you take a step back and look what's going on today, that's a possibility.
To your point, you mentioned the markets have had a great run this year. Perhaps it's time to take a bit of protection or take some money off the table.
The other thing to consider here I think, as well as the economic data, look at the Fed minutes yesterday. We've gotten to a comfortable position where we think the Federal Reserve is done with their rate hikes. What actually, given the strength of the data, happens if they have to hike rates again? That's going to cause some problems, too.
And the other thing I think that's interesting what Michael did -- he sold Chinese stocks. The Chinese officials, this week, said their recovery has been torturous. That's a drag on economic growth, too.
So for all these reasons my view would be don't panic. Listen to what he's saying. Listen to other discord and notes. But if you're worried about what to do with your 401(k) no knee-jerk reactions, please.
HARLOW: You have to weigh in --
MATTINGLY: So good.
HARLOW: -- because this is your favorite. She is so good. This is your favorite story of the day.
MATTINGLY: No, the best. I was like reading the (INAUDIBLE) this morning and she, like, nailed all of the things that are important. I understand the big headline number but, like, the inside -- the context and the depth --
CHATTERLEY: Be really careful.
MATTINGLY: -- of the actual filing tells you a lot of different stories. Don't draw too many conclusions.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And he's buying, too. He's buying health care stocks --
MATTINGLY: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: -- and consumer stocks. So, yes, we'll leave the crash word out of this. HARLOW: Thank you, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
HARLOW: Barbie hasn't even been in theaters for a full month and the blockbuster is still not finished breaking records.
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Clip from Warner Bros. Picture "Barbie."
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MATTINGLY: It is, indeed, Poppy, the best day ever --
HARLOW: It is the best day ever.
MATTINGLY: -- from now until forever for "Barbie." The movie has just topped 2008's "The Dark Knight" to become Warner Bros. highest- grossing domestic release ever. The rest of the world -- it seems to have caught pink fever, too. Last week, the comedy joined the $1 billion club at the worldwide box office, and it could be on track to become the highest-grossing film of the year.
Joining us now, Vanity Fair staff writer who covers entertainment and popular culture. I learn a ton from reading him -- Chris Murphy. We should note upfront --
HARLOW: Good morning.
MATTINGLY: -- Warner Bros. Discovery is CNN's parent company.
What I'm fascinated by is this is -- there's a number of countries -- foreign countries, in particular -- that have not gotten necessarily onto the "Barbie" bandwagon, to say the least. And still --
CHRIS MURPHY, STAFF WRITER, VANITY FAIR: And still, it's made $1. -- almost $1.2 billion at the global box office.
Yes, "Barbie" is banned in various countries, including Kuwait and Vietnam, Algeria. It might be banned in Lebanon, which gave it a much sort of uphill climb to sort of become a global sensation.
You know, other movies like "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which is the biggest movie of the year -- I don't think Mario is banned anywhere else in the world. But "Barbie" was able to probably surpass the amount of money that Super Mario has made despite the fact that it's banned in places.
HARLOW: One of the many things I think is so brilliant about this film is the fact that Greta Gerwig and -- they were able to write a script and direct a film that took a stereotypical, often sort of shunned now doll, saying it's too perfect -- many serious body image concerns -- completely flip it on its head and to have a such pro- feminist message. It's genius.
MURPHY: It's absolutely genius. And it shows that when you put women in front of the camera and behind the camera you --
HARLOW: Ha! Good things happen.
MURPHY: Good things happen, actually. Actually, there's a USC study that comes out today that says in the past year, for the top 100 grossing films, less than a quarter of the directors, the writers, and the producers are women.
[07:50:00]
Guess what? "Barbie" has a female director in Greta Gerwig, co-writer in Greta Gerwig with her partner Noah Baumbach, and Margot Robbie is the star and also an executive producer.
So I think that goes to show you've got to put women all over.
HARLOW: I would like it noted that Margot Robbie also out-planked Ryan Gosling. Did you see that?
MURPHY: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Yes. She -- and it was also -- the plank was like five minutes.
HARLOW: Five minutes.
MURPHY: It was like five minutes.
MATTINGLY: That was totally insane.
I think there's a trend. That's what you guys are trying to say here.
HARLOW: Yes.
MATTINGLY: I do want to ask you about one other thing. We saw the issue about Bradley Cooper playing Leonard Bernstein in a movie. There was some -- outrage probably isn't the word. People were upset about a prosthetic nose. And yet, Leonard Bernstein's family was very quick and very effusive in their praise and backing of Cooper. Why?
MURPHY: Yes, absolutely. Bradley Cooper ran into some water because of the prosthetic nose that he's using in "Maestro." People said that it was antisemitic and akin to blackface.
But the Bernstein family and the Bernstein children came to support Bradley Cooper immediately after. They said that they were perfectly fine with the nose. They even said that their father had a very nice, big nose in the joint statement. And they said that Cooper involved them in every part of the process along the way and that they sort of unequivocally stand by Cooper.
So he has the family's blessing to make the movie and make the movie the way that he decided to make it.
HARLOW: It's great to have you, Chris. Come back soon.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, come back. Let's do this often.
HARLOW: Yes.
MATTINGLY: All right, back to politics. That was fun, though. I enjoyed that -- and informative.
Tim Scott is a viable option for Republicans who have soured by -- soured onto the former president. It's the big question that everybody's asking right now. We're going to hear from some Republicans who are having a change of heart after backing the former president in the past. That's next.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kind of wish Trump would just fade, to be honest with you. I voted for him twice. I'd vote for him again. But I kind of wish he'd just take a step to the side.
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MATTINGLY: Iowa Republicans are giving presidential candidate Tim Scott a closer look. The South Carolina senator has been making the rounds at the Iowa State Fair, speaking to voters as he looks to elevate himself about other candidates in the crowded GOP field ahead of those critical debates.
[07:55:00]
CNN's Eva McKend has more on the story.
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TIM SCOTT, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One hundred percent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many of you love Sen. Scott?
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EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): Everybody is the answer Sen. Tim Scott and his campaign are looking for this week in Iowa --
SCOTT: How are you all?
MCKEND (voice-over): -- campaigning hand to hand, flip to French fry. But the main political attraction during Scott's visit to the famed state fair Tuesday was news of frontrunner Donald Trump's fourth criminal indictment.
SCOTT: I continue to say, as I've said, which is that we see the legal system being weaponized against political opponents. That is un- American and unacceptable.
MCKEND (voice-over): Scott attacking the legal process instead of the former president, trying to keep his campaign positive and showing little appetite to take on any candidate, even Trump, despite mounting legal woes.
REPORTER: Is Trump's lead here in Iowa unsurmountable?
SCOTT: No, of course, not.
REPORTER: Why not?
SCOTT: That's why I'm campaigning. Because I believe that my optimistic, positive message is being rooted in Iowa and that frankly, our poll numbers continue to go up.
MCKEND (voice-over): That optimism comes as some Iowans tell CNN they're sick of Trump, who still holds a dominant lead in the race.
MIKE POWER, IOWA VOTER: I'm considering other people that I think would also do a good job maybe without some of the conflict that senator -- or President Trump has with all the lawsuits.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kind of wish Trump would just fade, to be honest with you.
MCKEND (voice-over): Scott and his supporters have blanketed Iowa and New Hampshire with more than $10 million worth of ads. At an event in Cambridge, Iowa, he saw the payoff firsthand.
SCOTT: I say in my commercials if you take out a loan you pay it back. Halleluiah, you all. This is great, man. We love it. You all are starting to see the commercials. This is good news. I was wondering if they were buying anything with all that money I was spending.
MCKEND (voice-over): In the Hawkeye State, a whopping 69 percent of likely caucusgoers say they have a favorable view of Scott, according to a recent poll. His pursuit of momentum will have to carry into next week's debate -- a crucial test and opportunity. With Florida Gov. Run DeSantis seeking to reboot his campaign and Trump's appearance on the state very much in doubt, Scott is convinced he can compete.
SCOTT: I'm going to continue to run this race for one objective. It's to be the President of the United States.
MCKEND (voice-over): His campaign just releasing this video.
SCOTT: You get in the race for president to win.
MCKEND (on camera): What is your campaign strategy to gain momentum between now and the debate?
SCOTT: Well, the good news is that we're going to continue to do what we have been doing, which is focusing on the optimistic, positive message anchored in conservatism with a backbone.
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MCKEND: And new this morning, we're learning that Scott's campaign is placing an $8 million ad buy. That is the second major ad buy since the campaign launched in May -- Phil, Poppy.
MATTINGLY: They've got money. We'll see if they have momentum.
Eva McKend, great piece. Thank you.
Well, the Fulton County D.A. wants former President Trump to go on trial in early March right before Super Tuesday. We're going to discuss whether that timeline is realistic. That's coming up next.
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