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Republican National Committee Releases List of Participants in First Republican Presidential Primary Debate Which Does Not Include Former President Trump; Former President Trump Expected to Turn Himself in to Fulton County Jail Day After Republican Presidential Primary Debate; FOX News Pulls Credentials for Representative of Former President Trump to Get into Press Spin Room for First Presidential Primary Debate. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 22, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:35]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. So glad you're with us on CNN THIS MORNING, top of the hour. And it is pre-debate morning. The RNC has released the official lineup for tomorrow's presidential debate. Frontrunner Donald Trump not on this list. Instead, he is getting ready to surrender the next day on felony charges in Georgia.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a California clothing store owner shot and killed over a pride flag. Our friends will join us live.

HARLOW: And a new deep dive report from "The New Yorker" reveals Elon Musk's influence over Washington and the federal government's inability to rein him in. We'll speak with the author of that, Ronan Farrow. He is here live in studio.

This hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

HARLOW: We begin new overnight. Former President Trump says he will turn himself into the Fulton County jail this Thursday. It will be his fourth arrest this year. Trump has agreed to a $200,000 bond on 13 felony charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia. His bond sets some strict conditions. The judge has warned Trump he is not allowed to threaten or intimidate any witnesses and his 18 co- defendants in the case. That includes any posts or reposts on social media.

BLACKWELL: And Trump's surrender will happen the day after the GOP's first presidential primary debate, a debate that he's skipping. Overnight, the RNC released the list of the eight candidates who will be on the stage tomorrow night in Milwaukee.

HARLOW: CNN national security reporter Zachary Cohen joins live outside the Fulton County jail. Good morning, Zach. Appreciate you being with us. The judge ahead of Trump turning himself in and these others laid out several other conditions, right, for Trump's release?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, that's exactly right, Poppy. Trump is expected to turn himself into the Fulton County jail, which is right behind me, on Thursday. But his lawyers were meeting with the district attorney's office yesterday to sort of lay out the terms of this bond agreement. And in addition to the $200,000 bond that you mentioned, there is also a broad social media provision in there that says he can't threaten or post anything threatening on social media to anybody in the community writ large. That would include the prosecutors, that would include other witnesses.

So these are really strict terms of a bond agreement. And we also know that four other of Trump's co-defendants also had their lawyers meeting with the district attorney's office yesterday to work out their bond agreements. The total in money ranges from $100,000 down to $10,000. But we know three lawyers did negotiate their bond agreements yesterday. That's John Eastman, Ke Chesebro, and Ray Smith. And there was actually another bail bondsman who negotiated his bond agreement yesterday as well. That is a man named Scott Hall who was involved in the Coffey County breach. So we are starting to see these co- defendants, there is 19 of them, including Trump, work out the terms of their bond. And we should see them start surrounding here at the Fulton County jail in the next few days.

BLACKWELL: OK, so that's the Georgia case. Let's turn now to the federal election subversion case. And Jack Smith, the special council, pushing back hard against this date request of 2026, April 2026, to start that case. What is he saying?

COHEN: Yes, Jack Smith said at the outset when he announced the indictment that he wanted a speedy trial. Trump came back with a different proposal. He wants a trial to happen in 2026 after the next presidential election. So Jack Smith yesterday with a new filing pushing back on the claims by Trump's lawyers arguing that this should be pushed back until 2026. They made misstated facts. The basically crafted a narrative that was not based in reality. So there's still some contention there, the two sides arguing over when a Denver trial for Donald Trump in that federal case can happen.

HARLOW: Zachary Cohen, thank you. It's going to be busy there this week. That's for sure.

BLACKWELL: This morning FOX says that it will no longer provide credentials to former President Trump's surrogates for the spin room at tomorrow's GOP presidential primary debate. Several of Trump's advisors and top surrogates were planning to attend the debate and represent him in the spin room since he won't be there. Now they are working to sort out a resolution with the network as well as the RNC.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live in Bridgewater, New Jersey, with more. So you've have some reporting for us this morning about how the Trump team is reacting to this. What do you know?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Right. Well, good morning.

[08:05:00]

And yes, the Donald Trump team was very angered by this yesterday. They were informed just two days before the debate that they were no longer going to be credentialed by FOX News in the spin room. Of course, FOX is hosting that debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday. But I am told that they think they have found essentially a loophole around this, and also some sort of resolution, which is other networks will be able to give some members of the Trump team as well as some surrogates who don't have credentials already access to that spin room. So this is how they are coming around it.

But from my conversations with Donald Trump's team, I know that they were very frustrated by this. They kind of saw this as a slap in the face from FOX News. But of course, the reason that FOX News had pulled these credentials is because Donald Trump is not participating the debate. Just also to talk about some counterprogramming that the former president himself is doing, he will be sitting down with Tucker Carlson Wednesday night for an interview that he has already recorded. We have reporting that he has prerecorded that interview. He will be in Bedminster Wednesday near where I am just now Wednesday night during the debate, but he will also be having an aired interview with Tucker Carlson. And so a lot of uncertainty, I think, around what was going to happen with Donald Trump's surrogates in that spin room. They do think they will be able to be there now and represent him in his absence. Victor, Poppy?

BLACKWELL: Alayna Treene for us there, thanks so much.

HARLOW: So with the frontrunner Donald Trump not going to be on the debate stage, it's quite an opportunity for his Republican rivals who trail him to try to break through. What do they need to do tomorrow night?

Joining us, former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain and executive producer of "The Circus," which is phenomenal, always with the best hat in television as well, Mark McKinnon. Welcome to the program.

BLACKWELL: Sometimes the only hat in television.

HARLOW: This is true, and the best one.

I want to tick through all of them, because your notes are so interesting. Why not start with the former V.P., Mike Pence? What does he need to do?

MARK MCKINNON, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "THE CIRCUS": First of all, this is the first, best, and maybe last impression for all these candidates to really make an impression and try and break through. And really the effect of this debate may have is not just for somebody to break through, but it maybe for somebody to break down, and this could be their last debate.

So Mike Pence, his opportunity here is to say that when asked to choose between Trump and the Constitution, he chose the Constitution. This is his mantra. This is the hill that he has chosen to live or die on. But it's a very distinguishing fact. It's the one act he will be remembered for historically, so you can be sure that this is the play he will make.

BLACKWELL: Governor Ron DeSantis, what does he need to do?

MCKINNON: DeSantis really needs to push the notion of Trump being a loser and that he is a winner. He's got a proven track record. Psychologically, the way to go after Trump is to say, listen, this guy, you know, he won an election, he was a good president for us, did a lot of good things, but he can't win. He lost the last election, first time in 100 years that a president lost his re-election, the Senate and House, since Grover Cleveland. I can win.

HARLOW: Nikki Haley's team reporting that she has been preparing for this for a very long time, since she launched her run in February. What does she need to do?

MCKINNON: Keep your eye on Nikki Haley. I think she is real a value play. She knows the drill. She is experienced not only in campaigns but in governments. And that's her message. She can say that I am the most experienced person on this stage because I have both executive experience as governor and foreign policy experience as the former United Nations ambassador. So she has a broad portfolio.

BLACKWELL: The political newbie, Vivek Ramaswamy, his team says that they are not doing mock debates. Apparently, someone took his shirt, and he is playing tennis anyway.

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BLACKWELL: What does he need to accomplish at the debate tomorrow night?

MCKINNON: Well, after having seen that video, maybe he'll bring his tennis racket to the stage. He plays a pretty good game of tennis, clearly. That's his secret sauce, man. He is all about confidence, and that's his superpower. So I think that he is the guy to watch in this debate. He could really break out, because it's all about expectations. Not many people know him, not many people have seen him, and whether or not you agree with his positions, which are pretty wacky, he is a very impressive guy. So watch for him to break out and make a real impression.

HARLOW: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum wants to introduce himself to the American people, but they don't get opening statements, so he is going to have to figure out a way to do that in answers they give.

MCKINNON: He does. He is probably the least known of anybody despite the fact that he is a governor. But his play so introduce himself as an effective governor but also a successful entrepreneur, and then to say, you know, if anybody gets polled by a pollster I will give them a gift card to say that I won the debate. That's how he got on the debate stage, with a $20 gift card.

HARLOW: That is how.

MCKINNON: He keeps coming.

BLACKWELL: Senator Tim Scott, who is getting a lot of attention in Iowa, taking a different approach than many of his opponents here, what's his high mark here? What's his goal?

MCKINNON: Yes, he has got a lot of potential in Iowa, and he's another one to really watch.

[08:10:00]

He's got a lot of potential with Iowa voters. He's got a very sort of religious background and plays with evangelicals. His play is to be the sunny Reagan conservative. He is the nice guy of the group. Everybody likes Tim Scott. The one thing I think that he needs to do is start throwing a little bit of an elbow. And the way that he does that, I think, is to very subtly or maybe not so subtly say character counts. This is sort of what the George Bush -- was in 2000, to say it's time to return honor and integrity to the White House. Tim Scott has got to do that.

HARLOW: Former Governor Asa Hutchinson, one of the few who will be on that stage who has called out Trump said he -- he and Christie, said he is not qualified to be president. What does he need to do, because he is really lagging in the polls?

MCKINNON: He is. But that's his -- his way in is to, like Christie, confront Trump. He is doing it as a former governor of Arkansas, a southern governor, and somebody who is saying that, listen, it is disqualifying if you are under criminal indictment to run for president. He should not even be running. So that's where he is drawing a very bright line that he doesn't qualify because of the indictments, he should not even be running.

BLACKWELL: And number eight, the former governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who has been brawling since he entered this race. What should he be doing tomorrow night?

MCKINNON: Well, he is the human wrecking ball. And he's got one play, but it's a really good one, and that is he just punches everybody. He'll punch up on Trump. He will punch sideways on DeSantis and punch down on Vivek. You can just count on Chris Christie to punch everybody in the ring. And it's always good TV and always exciting. So count on him to keep punching.

HARLOW: We'll see if he can get his poll numbers up with those punches.

BLACKWELL: All right, Mark McKinnon, walking us through all eight, thanks so much.

MCKINNON: Thanks.

HARLOW: So we now when former President Trump when turn himself in to the Fulton County jail, that will be on Thursday. What is that going to look like, next.

BLACKWELL: A shop owner in California killed for displaying a rainbow pride flag. You will hear from her daughter and one of her friends next.

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BLACKWELL: In just two days now, former President Donald Trump is set to surrender at the Fulton County Jail. The former president will not be alone, of course. His 18 codefendants have until Friday at noon to do the same. This comes as a source tells CNN that the bets have been made against employees with the Fulton County Sheriff's Office. With us now is CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.

John so, not just the booking process, there is the security of all of this. Are there the resources to handle this, especially since it looks like they're all waiting until the back end of the week?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: There are, Fulton County planned for this, and for a long time they have flown around, literally sent people forward to the other places where Trump has been indicted New York, Miami, Washington, DC. to see how that process has gone there and to adjust. The Sheriff's Office will have the lead on this today, but Atlanta PD is involved in the moves from the airport to the jail.

Mutual aid agreements have been made with other towns and agencies. So, some of this is baked in.

HARLOW: Is there a chance we might not see or hear from Trump on Thursday? Because there's two entrances to this place.

MILLER: So, there is a chance, and probably better than a chance. This has been designed as a you know, wham-bam, in and out. It's arrived at the airport, motorcade to the jail, go in the garage entrance, enter the jail, get processed, come out, leave the same way you came, motorcade to the airport; No statements to the press, nothing like that, especially given the judge's recent order.

So, this should be about as fast tracked as it can be. There will be the booking process, certifying the bond. Yes, mugshot; Yes, fingerprints? No, handcuffs? It's all kind of lined up.

BLACKWELL: So, this is happening at Rice Street, at the jail there. Did it have to happen at the jail? Could it happen at the courthouse? So, interesting question, Victor, because it should happen at the jail, but it could have happened at the courthouse.

Think about this, in the other arrests, in the New York arrest, they didn't book them at the first precinct, and there wasn't a perp walk. They did it quietly in the DA's office in Miami. They did it in the US. Marshal's office. A United States Marshal appointed by Donald Trump. So, they have

adjusted the process theoretically, for operational reasons and security. In this case, they've deliberately not adjusted the process, presumably as a demonstration of the district attorneys and the sheriff's words that he'll be treated like another person who has allegedly violated the law.

HARLOW: Also interesting, this is the first of the four arrests now where he has to actually pay the bond.

MILLER: Yeah, and that's also baked in ahead of time in that they've agreed on the bond. So, for a normal prisoner, that would be something that would hold up the process while they were at the jail, and they would have to scramble to arrange.

HARLOW: There are many people who sit in jailor years because they can't pay it.

MILLER: Well, I think in this case, we're not going to see that.

HARLOW: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: So, let me ask you about the exposure. I talked about this with some attorneys earlier, the debates and the exposure potentially, if Trump gets up there with two former US. Attorneys who don't want him to be the nominee, Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie, and they can goad some things out of him.

What's the legal exposure for having Trump participate in any of the debates that are on the schedule?

MILLER: Well, it's a high-risk venture because of Donald Trump, which is Donald Trump has few unspoken thoughts. So, the idea that he is now operating under a judge's stern warning that is attached, as one of our earlier guests pointed out, a violation of that could actually affect his bond, whether it goes up or is revoked or remanded, a lot of things are on the table here that haven't been before.

So, he's going to have to figure out with his lawyers and agree where that line is, which has traditionally been hard for him.

BLACKWELL: And, Chris Christie and I assume Asa Hutchinson as well, they know what to get out of him, to potentially speak to state of mind at the time of the questions that are in these cases.

MILLER: Not just lawyers, but former prosecutors.

BLACKWELL: Indeed, indeed. John Miller, thank you.

HARLOW: Great to have you. So, this just in. We want to show you newly released security video. This is posted by that local Kansas newspaper that we told you so much about last week, the Marion County Record. And what you're looking at is police raiding the home of that paper's 98-year-old co-owner and the mother of the editor of the paper, Joan Meyer.

[08:20:00]

You'll remember she collapsed and died the day after the raid. Police said that Meyer's home and office over. They raided it over claims that the newspaper had obtained information illegally. The paper has consistently denied that. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOAN MEYER, LOCAL KANSAS NEWSPAPER EDITOR: You. Don't you touch any of that stuff. This is my house. You're a police chief? You're the chief. Oh, God. Yeah.

POLICE #1: How many computers do you have in the house, ma'am?

MEYER: I'm not going to tell you. Get out of my way. I want to see what they're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So according to the paper, Meyer had been, quote, stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by the hours of shock and grief after the illegal police raids. Here is what her son Eric, who is also the publisher of the paper, told CNN last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC MILLER, CO-OWNER, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, MARLON COUNTY RECORDS: One nice thing about it is that the outpouring of public support and the support from news organizations and journalistic organizations afterward would almost vindicate her. I think she would feel good about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Wow. This search warrant, we should note, that was used to raid the home and the paper's office. Well, it has since been withdrawn and the items seized have been returned. The Kansas Bureau of Investigations is looking at the entire incident.

BLACKWELL: That video is stunning, especially in the context of what happened afterward, that they returned it all and that she died.

HARLOW: And that the warrant got pulled back because they didn't have a probable cause affidavit in the first place. I mean, all of this is just striking.

BLACKWELL: A shop owner in California killed for displaying a Rainbow Pride flag. You'll hear from her daughter and one of her friends next hit It takes you to make things.

[08:25:00]

BLACKWELL: This morning, the San Bernardino County Sheriff has named the suspect who allegedly shot killed a California businesswoman. This was after an argument over the gay Pride Flag hanging outside her clothing store. Now, according to the sheriff, the 27-year-old suspect ripped down the flag, shouted homophobic slurs.

He was later killed during confrontation with deputies. And this comes as the small community in the San Bernardino Mountains mourns Lauri Carleton.

HARLOW: Friends say that Carleton also I should know a mother of nine, helped really foster a culture in which the LGBTQ+ community felt accepted. Her daughter told our colleague Anderson Cooper last night that she had faced local hostility before, but she always stood up for equality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI CARLETON, DAUGHT OF LAURI CARLETON: She was so fearless, and any negative know, she just powered through. The flags had been torn down before by different individuals, and she always went and ordered an even larger flag in response and put it up. So, you know, I admire her, and I'm so proud of her, and I know that she passed standing up for something that she believed in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Wow. Well, Carleton was one of the largest donors to Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+, that group noting that Lauri did not identify as LGBTQ+ but spent her time helping and advocating for everyone in the community.

This attack comes amid a spike in anti LGBTQ incidents. The ADL reports more than 350 of those attacks in just the last year. We are joined now by a friend of Lauri's, who is also the co-founder of Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+. That is Matthew Clevenger. Matthew, good morning, and thank you for joining us.

I know that you have said know there are people who moved to the community who were concerned about their safety, and then they'd drive by Lori's store and they'd see the flag, and they would feel welcomed. What did she mean to everyone there?

MATTHEW CLEVENGER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, LAKE ARROWHEAD LGBTQ+: Lauri was the gap between the LGBT Community and everyone else up here. She was security for a lot of people because of these flags. She was the brave one. She was the lioness, and she was the fiercest person that we knew.

And I mean fierce like a lioness fierce. She was fierce in business, she was fierce in love, she was fierce with the way she felt about her stances on people's rights. The Human Rights Campaign was important to her.

The voting rights were important to her. And this was all centered by her passion for rights for LGBTQ.

BLACKWELL: Matthew, I wonder what you thought and felt when you heard what happened at that store, at that flag, and now there's someone in custody. That because she stood up, because she kept replacing the flag, she lost her life.

CLEVENGER: We're in a changing climate here as far as the demography of this location, it has been traditionally quite conservative, but nobody's ever had a problem with getting along, especially when we moved here. But this was a shock that Lauri, a person that did not identify as part of the community, that was just an ally, was shot because of a rainbow flag. And I think that's what's going to resonate with people. It is not a

shock that this occurred in this area. Nobody is shocked that gun violence occurred because of somebody having a gay flag up. It's just that we didn't expect it to happen to someone that was an ally like Lauri, a woman married to a man with a blended family of nine children.

HARLOW: But saying that is shocking in itself, right? That no one is shocked that someone was shot because of this. And it comes in that context, Matthew, that I mentioned earlier of the ADL mentioning 350 attacks driven by this hate in the last year.

CLEVENGER: Yeah, exactly. And I have to say, when we started, the organization is a social organization just before COVID and went into the first parade during COVID, there was very little backlash from the community, and it seems to have grown over the past year and a half. We still haven't had any issues with that up here outside of some side remarks and hand gestures.

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