Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Fake Twitter Account Used Trump Supporter's Photo; Trump Team Proposes Trial Date; Mortgage Rates Soar. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired August 18, 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]
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can I ask you which way you voted in the last presidential elections.
COURTNEY BALLESTOROS, PHOTOS STOLEN FOR FAKE TWITTER ACCOUNT: Of course, I voted for Trump.
ROSALES: So, you sense the irony here, right?
BALLESTOROS: Yes.
ROSALES: Some people thought that this was an AI-generated image.
BALLESTOROS: Oh, that. Yes, I - when I saw that, that - that was -- also made me laugh. I was like, they don't even think I'm real.
ROSALES (voice over):It was her friends who first alerted her.
BALLESTOROS: Hey, like there's this Twitter account. Is it yours? They're posting crazy things.
ROSALES: Over months, Marsh only grew more popular.
BALLESTOROS: I think there was even an elected representative that interacted with the account -
ROSALES (on camera): Yes, Matt Gaetz.
BALLESTOROS: Like with my face. So that is shocking.
ROSALES (voice over): But Courtney only grew more concerned about its message. Twitter has a policy against impersonation. Once the account was removed, Courtney felt relieved but not safe.
BALLESTOROS: I don't want to be out in public and someone notice my picture that was on the account, approach me, approach my family. Who knows what someone would do that didn't agree with what Erica Marsh was saying.
DARREN LINVILL, DISINFORMATION EXPERT, CLEMSON UNIVE: Whoever is running this account knows what people like, and knows how to get attention.
ROSALES (voice over):Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University, studies disinformation and trolling.
ROSALES (on camera): What is Erica Marsh? Is it a parity? Is it a troll? Is it a disinformation campaign? What is she?
LINVILL: Erica Marsh is a fake online influencer. She isn't a troll in the way that a lot of viewers may think of a troll.
ROSALES (voice over):Linvill believes this was the work of a professional.
LINVILL: This is not an amateur, no. It'd be very hard for an amateur to get to well over 100,000 followers in such a short amount of time.
ROSALES: And Courtney's pictures plucked on purpose.
LINVILL: She looks all American. She looks friendly. But, ultimately, it's about influence. It's meant to engage with a very specific audience and to get people a little bit angry.
ROSALES: Whether the goal of the account was to generate money or sow division, Linvill says the real owner of Erica Marsh is likely still operating on the platform.
ROSALES (voice over): Is there any way to tell who's responsible for Erica Marsh or where they come from?
LINVILL: That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?
BALLESTOROS: It's just fake. You know, it's fake. The whole thing was fake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSALES: And the Erica Marsh profile claimed that she worked for the Obama and Biden campaigns. But like everything else on the account, that was all made up. Experts say that this easily could have been the work of a foreign government or group or perhaps even a ploy to make money from all the clicks and attention that the account was getting. But, either way, there is a real concern here about these sorts of fake accounts and the influence that they could have leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Poppy. Phil.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, no question. An amazing job tracking her down and finding her. What a story.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: What a story.
HARLOW: Thanks, Isabel.
MATTINGLY: Well, new overnight, a drone shot down over Moscow. We're going to have all the new details that are coming in now.
HARLOW: Also, Ron DeSantis, what his debate strategies are leaked a week before he takes the stage, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:32]
MATTINGLY: These are live pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the base of the Washington Monument. You might ask, why are we showing them. They look beautiful. That's true. However, they're both also a key to a new push by President -- former President Donald Trump's attorneys. They're arguing that we should move the trial date, not just for the federal election itself to 2024, but because moving it two and a half plus years away would be necessary given they're buried in prep work. And if all the documents were actually stacked up, the stack would be eight times taller than the Washington Monument and about 16 times the height of the Statue of Liberty. Show don't tell as they say in journalism.
Joining us now, national politics team leader for "Bloomberg," Mario Parker. Money and politics reporter for "The New York Times" Rebecca O'Brien and former U.S. attorney of the Middle District of Georgia, Michael Moore.
Michael, I want to start with beyond just the visualization, which, again, I appreciate.
MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: (INAUDIBLE).
MATTINGLY: Our editors yell at us to do that more often than not.
MOORE: Right.
MATTINGLY: Didn't see a lot of stuff related to the 2024 election in the ask to move it to 2026. Why not?
MOORE: You know, I think they know that, on its face, is not going to be enough. I mean, but the truth is, the request to move to 2026 is almost as ridiculous as the request to set the trial in January of next year. There's no possible way that's going to happen. It's almost a PR move. And I think this is sort of the Trump team response to that.
Every defendant in court has a right to have effective representation. The Sixth Amendment guarantees him that.
HARLOW: Yes.
MOORE: So, there's no way that you can you look at 11 million documents in a relatively short time, especially if you think about the amount of time it's taken the government to put together the case in their investigation and then compare that now as the Trump team tries to review it, that it would be four or five months.
So, I think it was just an effort probably to get the judge to split the baby somewhere and look for a date, which I think, frankly, will be either very close but more likely right after the election. MATTINGLY: Is it the idea of, we have so much work because our client
has been indicted so many times, take -- have pity on us, a viable presentation?
MOORE: It's not a legal defense.
MATTINGLY: Right
MOORE: I mean it's sort of a -- maybe a little bit of a common sense thing. The problem is, is they're trying to capitalize, I think, on this idea that he's being piled upon by case after case and to make a statement now in a public filing that they can't be ready to defend either one.
As he goes into this, he's still presumed innocent, right? So, he's just like any other American. No matter what you think about him, h e's still got the constitutional right to be presumed innocent and to prepare each case. So, I think they're pushing that narrative, too.
I fear that some of the efforts to compress the schedule plays right into his hands that he's being treated differently. And it makes it look like the government's efforts are to get all these cases heard right before trial so every -- right before the election so everything can know about it. That's not how cases are handled.
MATTINGLY: Right.
MOORE: And in a case like this, especially of any complexity, you would expect there would be at least a year delay, typically more. And so it would be interesting to compare how long people have sat in jail on January 6th charges, relatively simple cases about trespassing on the Capitol grounds and those kinds of things, versus how quick they're trying to move this trial.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
HARLOW: Mario, one thing I think is interesting is sort of the growing chorus of Republicans who aren't, you know, total Trump cheerleaders, like Chris Christie and Bill Barr, who are questioning this Georgia indictment because they're saying, you know, Jack Smith did this, and usually a federal indictment would supersede something on the state level, and it just seems like piling on, right?
[06:40:04]
I'm paraphrasing here.
But you have a good point about Trump canceling his press conference on Monday to try to debunk, you know, and try to, you know, refute the Georgia indictment.
MATTINGLY: Debunk.
HARLOW: Debunk. (INAUDIBLE) indictment (ph). I'm sorry, Phil's making fun of me here.
MATTINGLY: That's not - that's not true.
HARLOW: Because - because your point is, it shows how seriously Trump is taking it, that he's canceled it, right?
MARIO PARKER, NATIONAL POLITICS TEAM LEADER, "BLOOMBERG": Yes. No, no, there's -- we've been expecting this Georgia indictment to drop for a while now, right, ever since going back to shortly after the 2020 election was even conducted. And this one, while it may be tough for Americans to wrap their hands around -- their heads around the privileges that a former president may have with handling classified documents, some of the ambiguity in the New York Manhattan case. This is one where you actually heard the former president on the phone saying, hey, find me 11,000 plus votes so I can win the election after it was conducted. You've got the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, who is a Republican, right, you've got the secretary of state, all of them saying that the election was held fairly and it was run fairly as well, and that the former president is being -- you know, delivering falsehoods essentially in saying that it was stolen from him. So, this is serious business and you can see that the Trump attorneys are taking this one particularly serious.
HARLOW: And he's listening to them.
MATTINGLY: For now.
HARLOW: For now.
MATTINGLY: For the moment.
HARLOW: For this minute.
MATTINGLY: Rebecca, I want to ask you -- your colleagues had a big scoop yesterday related to a campaign prep memo from a super PAC for Ron DeSantis. I've bored our team and Poppy with my 8 million different thoughts about all of these things over the last several hours.
HARLOW: This is true. It's a fact.
MATTINGLY: But you keyed on something that I'm most interested in, which is the actual dynamic between the super PAC and the campaign itself. Who's spending the most money? Who seems to be directing things to some degree? And I think there's some tension there, too, between the two, even though they've shared employees back and forth at various points. Fair?
REBECCA O'BRIEN, NYT REPORTER, MONEY IN POLITICS: Yes, I think one of the things that first struck me about this story, which was great, is that elaborate kind of choreography. There's something kind of -- it's almost comic the kind of - the way that you have to not coordinate but --
MATTINGLY: It is explicitly comic. Not even almost.
O'BRIEN: It's - you know, and it's explicitly not supposed to be coordinated. MATTINGLY: Right.
O'BRIEN: And yet - and you see - like, if you post it - I mean I - one thing I liked about this story is that it says -- it lays out that - and because they can't coordinate, they have to put -- or it's not uncommon to put debate prep material and polling data in a corner of the internet where people might not be able to find it.
MATTINGLY: Right.
O'BRIEN: But then, of course, it comes out. And I think it just raises all these questions, not just for Governor DeSantis, but for other candidates as well, all of whom have their own dynamics with the, you know, the super PACs, the various kinds of like political committees that are aligned with them, how those entities coordinate or don't coordinate or kind of signal to each other and to the campaigns. It's just - it's fascinating to me. And I -- I think, you know, in the case of Governor DeSantis, this PAC has -- super PAC has a tremendous amount of power and a lot of money. They've raised $130 million and they're spending very big, not only on ads, but they're also kind of acting as a shadow campaign in some ways. They are - they are providing a lot of ground support for his, you know, his efforts around the country.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
HARLOW: Can we take a minute and listen to what Bill Barr said? Because after that great interview Kaitlan did with him, I was pretty sure he wouldn't vote for Trump but now I'm not so sure.
Let's listen to what he said on Fox yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I've already explained that if I thought that one of two people is going to end up as the president, that I wouldn't throw my vote away, I would try to make a decision who would do the least damage to the country. But if there were other options, I would also consider those.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Would you just not vote for president? Vote on the down ticket?
BARR: No, I think it's - no. If one of two people is going to do it, I would have to make that bitter choice. But - and if there are other options then --
CAVUTO: But it's conceivable Bill Barr could vote for Donald Trump?
BARR: Well, I'm not -- as I said, I'd jump off that bridge when I get to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Not a no, Mario. And I'm not - like, it's interesting who Bill Barr's going to vote for, but really I'm more interested in what you think as you apply that to the rest of sort of Republicans in America.
PARKER: Yes, what you're saying is a slow realization, a gradual realization where Republicans, maybe about six months ago, thought that they had finally exorcised Donald Trump, right, from the party. You had Mitch McConnell, shortly after the disappointing 2022 midterms, saying that Trump had been -- his political capital had been diminished.
Well, these cases that we just spoke about essentially supercharged Trump 's political capital, rallied the party around him, and now you're seeing people like Bill Barr, people like Mitch McConnell, start to hedge a bit more because essentially the base, that 30 percent that Trump has this iron tight grip on has been ignited in the face of these legal challenges.
[06:45:10]
And they -- they're going with where the winds are.
MATTINGLY: All right, Rebecca, Michael, Mario, thanks, guys, we appreciate it.
And in our next hour we're going to be speaking with presidential candidate Chris Christie ahead of the first Republican primary debate. You're not going to want to miss that.
HARLOW: Mortgage rates, they are very expensive if you've tried to get one recently. The highest in 21 years. What this means if you're looking to buy a house.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: New overnight, emergency crews have converged on central Moscow where Russian air defenses shot down a drone near a city center. This happened just about three miles away from the Kremlin. Pretty close. Russia is blaming Ukraine, calling it a terrorist attack. The country's civil aviation authority says it had to suspend traffic to four major airports because of this. And it's all unfolding as CNN has learned the U.S. has committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as soon as pilot training on them is complete. The training program was initially expected to start this month. It's not clear exactly when it will start or how long it's expected to take, but that's a big change - big change in U.S. policy.
MATTINGLY: Yes, no question.
Also this morning, mortgage rates in the United States have soared to their highest level in more than 20 years. Now, according to the data from Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged above 7 percent over the week ending yesterday. A year ago, just over 5 percent.
CNN's Julia Chatterley is here.
Julia, if, hypothetically, somebody wanted to buy a house because they were moving their family to New York recently -- JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, "FIRST MOVE": Anyone we know?
MATTINGLY: What impact would that have on a buyer?
CHATTERLEY: It would be a huge problem. You can tell me perhaps better than I can tell you in this case.
[06:50:02]
I think the other thing to remember, first and foremost about this interest rate, it assumes a 20 percent down payment. It assumes you have an excellent credit score, which we're going to assume you do, Phil --
MATTINGLY: Hypothetically.
HARLOW: That's kind of a (INAUDIBLE) Phil Mattingly has excellent credit.
CHATTERLEY: So, if you don't have those two things, actually you're probably being offered -
HARLOW: Worse.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. So, that's the first thing to remember. But this is just one component of actually what is combined to be the worst affordability crisis in housing that we've seen for four decades. You have sky high - relative sky-high mortgage rates. You also have a lack of supply of homes on the market. Then you also have actually near record home prices, too. Combine all those things, you've got a triple whammy that's having a pretty devastating effect.
Let me just show you, to your point, what mortgage rates have looked like over the last few years. Now, if you were lucky enough to lock in rates of August of 2021, well done. Let's say your mortgage repayment was $1,000 there. Today, your option is paying double that, even for above income -- average income families. That's a huge whack. So, you understand the problem here.
Now, it's great -- let's be clear if you're a homeowner. But if the big American dream is to own your home, perhaps leave that money to your kids one day, that's getting further and further away and it doesn't really change until the Federal Reserve starts to bring rates down, these things ease, people start to sell their homes, and that's going to take some time.
MATTINGLY: That's also coming as rent prices remain very high with the stickiest parts of the inflation issue as well.
CHATTERLEY: Wow. So, that's your other option. Yes.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: And that's the cash crunch.
HARLOW: Remember the guy who ran here in New York on the rent is too damn high.
MATTINGLY: Too damn high.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
HARLOW: I would agree.
MATTINGLY: Turns out he was right.
CHATTERLEY: Well, it's all too damn high.
HARLOW: No doubt.
CHATTERLEY: Are we allowed to say that this time of the morning?
HARLOW: Thanks, Julia.
MATTINGLY: Thanks, Julia.
HARLOW: Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
HARLOW: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Well, this just in, CNN is learning exclusively for the alleged architect of the fake electors plot was during the January 6th riot. What our K-file team uncovered.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With great reluctance the court has no choice in this matter but to grant the motion for a mistrial.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh. Ah. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: The mother of the black FedEx driver who was shot while making deliveries in Mississippi just outraged and devastated after a mistrial is declared. Hearing overnight reaction from that driver ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:56:24]
MATTINGLY: Scary moments in last night's pre-season game between the Eagles and the Browns as two players were carted off the field with neck injuries.
Andy Scholes joins us with more.
Andy. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys. You know, after last year where we saw those scary injury to Damar Hamlin and Tua Tagovailoa on the field, you know, just really hoping that everyone has a safe and healthy season this time around, but the cart did have to come out on the field twice in last night's Eagles/Bowns game, both for neck injuries.
The first happening here. Tyrie Cleveland, his head slams into the ground while he was trying to make that catch. So, the cart came out and took him off the field. Then later defensive lineman Moro Ojomo, he was chasing down Kellen Mond here. But while making the diving play, his head hit his teammate causing it to get bent back. Both scary moments. But the good news was, the team announced that both players had movement in their extremities afterwards.
All right, the NBA, meanwhile, announcing their regular season schedule yesterday. The Brooklyn Nets borrowing a page from the Tennessee Titans' hilarious video from earlier this year. They went to Coney Island and asked tourists to name that logo. And, well, watch how it went.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the New York Yankees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Insurance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Buffalo's. Buffalo's, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the Brooklyn Bridge, you know, basketball.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brooklyn Bridge, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Umm -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two question marks try to make love.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tigers. LSU Tigers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The exploding field goal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: And, you know, guys, I never thought the San Antonio Spurs logo looked like an exploding field goal, but now I can't unsee it.
MATTINGLY: Now you'll never unsee it.
SCHOLES: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Now you'll never unsee it.
And if you don't think that I'm trying to work through how we can make this a segment with you, me and Poppy going forward, we are definitely having to -
HARLOW: Tell him - tell him what I was doing in -
MATTINGLY: Poppy was getting every single one of them right and it was very impressive.
HARLOW: Yes. Yes.
MATTINGLY: It was very impressive.
Andy Scholes, thanks as always, my friend.
HARLOW: Uh-huh, there you go.
SCHOLES: All right.
HARLOW: CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.
MATTINGLY: And good morning, everyone. Let's get started with "5 Things" to know for this Friday, August 18th.
This just in, new and exclusive CNN reporting that reveals that Trump ally Kenneth Chesebro was the alleged architect of the fake electors plot, followed Alex Jones around the Capitol on January 6th. Videos and photographs, reviewed by CNN, shows Chesebro recording Jones as they entered the restricted area of the Capitol grounds where mobs of then President Donald Trump supporters eventually broke in.
HARLOW: Hawaii has one of the largest public safety outdoor siren warning systems in the world. So, why were they silent during the deadly wildfires? What we're learning this morning as Maui's emergency management administrator steps down.
MATTINGLY: And Hurricane Hilary now a major category four storm. Southern California and the southwest bracing for flooding and mudslides.
HARLOW: Health officials across the country bracing for three virus this fall they're warning Covid, the flu and RSV could all hit at the same time.
MATTINGLY: And, start spreading the news, or don't, if you're a Yankees fan like me. The Yankees are the worst that they've been in decades. It's unfortunate, but CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
And we are going to start this morning with that major storm we're tracking that's posing a threat to the West Coast. Hurricane Hilary, it intensified overnight into a powerful category four storm as it nears Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
HARLOW: It could also bring really heavy rain and flooding to Baja, California, that peninsula in the southwest of the country, by the weekend. Hurricane Hilary expected to weaken as it heads north.
[07:00:07]
But if it hits California, even as a tropical.
