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Trump Surrenders in Georgia 2020 Election Case; 45th President Becomes First Ever With Mug Shot; More Trump Co-Defendants Turn Themselves in Overnight. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 25, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:29]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning with unprecedented, an unprecedented image, the mug shot of the 45th president, the first mug shot of nay current or former president of the United States.

Good morning everyone. We're glad you're with us on this Friday, August the 25th. And new overnight, there are several fast-moving developments tied to Donald Trump's case in Georgia. The Trump campaign already raising money off this mug shot and sources tell CNN that Trump made the decision to intentionally look defiant in that photo.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Also new overnight, three more of his co-defendants have turned themselves in over the past few hours, including Jeffrey Clark. He's the former DOJ official accused of playing a key role in the effort to overturn the election. We're now awaiting just two more of those co-defendants to surrender. The deadline is just six hours away.

The first trial in the case is now set for October 23rd. One of the defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, asked for a speedy trial and DA, Fani Willis said, let's go. She also wants to try all the defendants beginning that day.

HARLOW: Georgia's Secretary of State has been subpoenaed to testify against Mark Meadows this Monday. That's when a hearing will be held to discuss whether Trump's former Chief of Staff can move his case to federal court.

BLACKWELL: And there's one co-defendant who actually had to spend the night in jail, Harrison Floyd. He's the leader of Black Voters for Trump. He slept over after he failed to negotiate a bond agreement before surrendering.

We are going to cover all of this this morning. CNN This Morning starts right now.

HARLOW: If you think about it, it was just five months ago that we were talking about maybe one indictment, maybe two, maybe three, and now it has been four. And this one is different because this comes with a mug shot.

BLACKWELL: Fingerprints.

HARLOW: And inmate number.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

HARLOW: Quite a night.

BLACKWELL: A moment of history.

HARLOW: For sure. So this morning you're waking up to that moment of history. Former President Trump's mug shot is across newspapers and television screens. His booking photo at the Fulton County Jail on all of these front pages, not only in the United States, but around the world. Trump was only at the jail in Atlanta for about 20 minutes. He was arrested. He was booked as inmate P01135809.

BLACKWELL: Trump has already flaunting this mug shot. He made a surprise return to Twitter, now known as X, for the first time since he was banned after the January 6th insurrection and then reinstated by Elon Musk last year.

Just two hours after he surrendered, Trump posted his mug shot with the caption, never surrender. We have a lot to get to. Let's start with Nick Valencia at the Fulton County Jail, where the former president actually surrendered. Nick, good morning to you.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. The scene outside the Fulton County Jail was one for the history books. Donald Trump has been called many things in his lifetime. And he can now add inmate to that list.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): A mug shot and inmate number P01135809 will forever be associated with the former president. Donald J. Trump was arrested on state charges related to election subversion in Georgia, Thursday. He was booked and released on bond at the Fulton County Jail. The former president took to the right-wing network Newsmax to discuss his surrender.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Terrible experience. I came in, I was treated very nicely, but it is what it is. I took a mug shot, which I never heard the words mug shot. That wasn't -- didn't teach me that at the Wharton School of Finance. And I have to go through a process. It's election interference.

VALENCIA: Ahead of his surrender, Trump agreed to a $200,000 bond and other release conditions including not using social media to intimidate co-defendants and witnesses in the case. This is the fourth criminal case filed against the former president this year.

TRUMP: What has taken place here is the travesty of justice. We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong. And everybody knows it.

VALENCIA: Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing in this case and the others.

TRUMP: It should never happen. If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election. I thought the election was a rigged election, a stolen election. And I should have every right to do that, as you know.

VALENCIA: Trump shared his mug shot and his truth social and his X account, formerly known as Twitter, with the words election interference and never surrender below it.

[06:05:01]

It was his first tweet on X since January 8th, 2021, two days after the insurrection. The former president was not the only high-profile person to surrender on Thursday. Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows surrendered himself to the Fulton County Jail.

He's been charged with violating Georgia's RICO Act and soliciting a public officer to violate their oath. He denies any wrongdoing.

FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: A Fulton County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment.

VALENCIA: Just last week, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and 18 co-defendants with meddling in the 2020 Georgia presidential election laws. On Thursday, the District Attorney filed a motion requesting a trial date of October 23, 2023. That date was set after Kenneth Chesebro, the co-defendant who was considered the architect of the fake elector's plot, requested a speedy trial as is right. His trial is set to begin on that date. Trump's attorneys say he opposes the proposed trial date.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (on camera): And more activity overnight as the co-defendants continue to turn themselves in, including former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark. Two co-defendants remain and they have just hours left to surrender. Fani Willis has given the noon deadline today for that to happen. Victor, Poppy?

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia, outside the jail force, thank you.

HARLOW: So a lot to get to with our team, National Politics Team Leader for Bloomberg, Mario Parker, with us at the table, along with Political Reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Patricia Murphy. Former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Saland. And CNN Contributor and former Georgia State Senator who also testified, we should note, in this probe for the grand jury, Jen Jordan.

Great to have everyone. Appreciate you being here. Jen, it's just sort of full circle for you, you were a state lawmaker in the room when people like Rudy Giuliani came down and perpetuated lies and falsehoods about what happened in Georgia. Then you're testified before the grand jury and now you see Trump arrested, booked, mug shot. Surreal? JEN JORDAN, FORMER GEORGIA STATE SENATOR: Well, it feels a lot better.

(CROSSTALK)

JORDAN: Well, it feels a lot better on this end than it did in the beginning. I mean, this real part was when they actually came down to Georgia and presented basically a false narrative.

And so now, you know, it feels like for two years there's been kind of this national gaslighting, but what you saw wasn't real. You know, I didn't say that. But the video doesn't lie. And we all know what we saw and what we heard. And I was just glad that the grand jury agreed, you know, that there were laws broken.

And now he's actually going to be held accountable. And no matter what happens with respect to a jury trial, at the end of the day, he's been indicted. That is a huge thing. It is such a big deal for the prosecutor to have even brought this case and took an immense amount of courage.

So it is very real. And it's something that we need to keep watching. But yesterday was a really historic day. And not in a good way, right?

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

HARLOW: We should note there's a presumption of innocence for any defendant --

JORDAN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: -- before they go through a jury trial of their peers.

BLACKWELL: And Mario, this morning, there will be news anchors around the world reading over that mug shot in a myriad of languages, reading that inmate number. And the president's campaign, they're exploiting it. They're selling it. They are making some money off of it because he will need it. Put the photograph into context for us.

MARIO PARKER, NATIONAL POLITICS TEAM LEADER, BLOOMBERG: Yeah, well, they're going to try to wring as much juice out of this as they possibly can and signal, at least to their supporters, that he's fighting for you, that this is a political -- there's a double standard here. This is election interference. He needs your help. He needs you to galvanize and get behind him as well. So, again, the campaign is taking lemons, trying to make lemonade out of this. Try to -- I mean, this is the hand that they've been dealt.

So they're trying to use it for whatever they can to just try to capitalize off of it. And so far, it's been working, if you look at the polls, at least.

HARLOW: Patricia, I think our colleague, Stephen Collinson, as he always does, frames this so well. Let me read people part of his column this morning.

"For a man who built his legend through paparazzi snaps in New York gossip columns and who prizes Time Magazine bearing his face, the Georgia mug shot for all its indignity represents yet another new frontier of notoriety. But for a nation still entangled in recriminations and fury whipped up by Trump, the photograph which flashed immediately around the world represents a special kind of tragedy." Quite a juxtaposition of then and now.

PATRICIA MURPHY, POLITICAL REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yeah, it's incredible. And it's just another piece of this story that I think many of us never expected to see. It just feels so surreal, having covered the Trump campaigns in 2015, his early support, how much his crowds just adored him. But then watching the complete chaos that followed here in Georgia in 2020 because of the actions of Donald Trump and the Trump campaign, seeing this mug shot feels like another chapter in a book that just will not end. This campaign is not ended here in Georgia for the last three years. Obviously we see, it's going to continue.

[06:10:22]

But in terms of how iconic that photo is, we now have his supporters in Georgia photoshopping themselves into mug shots, Fulton County mug shots putting those on Twitter and calling them MAGA mug shots and saying, now it's on. So he has galvanized to supporters even further. That's going to be a huge problem if he makes it to a general campaign. But so far right now his base is sticking with him more than they ever have.

BLACKWELL: We can put one of those up. Marjorie Taylor Greene, she tweeted out a photoshop mug shot with the #MAGA mug shot.

Jeremy, you've been shaking your head as that was described. What are you -- what are you thinking?

JEREMY SALAND, FORMER MANHATTAN PROSECUTOR: It's deplorable. It's a mockery of justice. It shows the insanity or for lack of a better term of people who are so lost in their obsession with Donald Trump in this theory that the election was stolen.

And I -- saying pathetic is not strong enough. It's just really sad. He as you pointed out Poppy. He's innocent until proven guilty. There's -- that's not the issue here. But to stand behind in such a way to make excuses in such a way blindly, that's not what this is about. Hold the prosecution to the burden. But don't -- don't just jump on this bandwagon for a political, you know, future again.

HARLOW: All of the focus, understandably is on Trump.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

HARLOW: Right, and the mug shot et cetera, Mark Meadows to an extent after that. But let's not forget that Jeffrey Clark surrendered overnight too and he was working at the Department of Justice and within government, the Department of Justice and yet is accused of working to perpetuate these lies and undo what the voters had done.

SALAND: That that is treason for -- you know -- HARLOW: That is not what he's charged with?

SALAND: No, no, that's not -- I'm sorry from just a general thought process here. Yes, you know again everyone's innocent until proven guilty. But now that he's at that point where he has to face these charges. He's trying for removal as well to get this to federal court and was we discussed earlier, there -- yes, he was a federal officer at the time that he's alleged to have committed these acts. But the next question is, is what he did was that in furtherance of his role in the Department of Justice. And the argument is that, it was not, therefore, it saves the state and it can be prosecuted in this case for a larger RICO crime.

So we heard from -- and control room, let me know if we have the sound of the former president describing his terrible experience ready. And Jen I'll bring that to you I want you to listen to what the former president said about while he was there at Rice Street, and then we'll talk about contrasting that with the experience of some of the people he targeted over these last several years. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Terrible experience, I came in, I was treated very nicely. But it is what it is. I took a mug shot which I never heard the words mug shot. That wasn't -- they didn't teach me that at the Wharton School of Finance. And I have to go through a process. It's election interference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He was in and out in 20 minutes. But if you contrast that with some of the people he focused on, the individuals, Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss over the last several years, who said that they could not go to grocery stores. They were afraid to go out. People came to their homes. What do you hear there in the president's description of his experience?

JORDAN: I just don't think he gets it. And I think when we see the Marjorie Taylor Greene, MAGA mug shot, there seems to be a real disconnect from reality. Look, Rice Street is a jail that is awful, right?

BLACKWELL: No question.

JORDAN: People are dying there because the conditions are so absolutely deplorable. So the fact that he basically got this great treatment, he comes in 20 minutes, in and out, right? Done and done, and somehow that was awful and bad. When the reality is people that get booked every day there and that have their mug shots taken and that actually have to be in jail there, this is very, very serious.

HARLOW: Yeah.

JORDAN: And so, for all of these people doing these MAGA mug shots, for whatever reason they're doing it, they just have no understanding what this really stands for. I mean, this is not good, right? He is in significant legal trouble. And so whether he thinks this is more of a political thing that he needs to massage or not, as a lawyer, he needs to stand down and really focus on his defense because he is facing serious allegations that could end him up with serious time in prison. And that mug shot's not going to really mean anything at the end of the day if he's locked up.

[06:15:01]

HARLOW: Because you know Georgia so well, if Trump is convicted on these charges in state court, if it doesn't get removed to federal, would he go to that jail first?

JORDAN: Yeah.

HARLOW: That one, he was in last night?

JORDAN: Yes. He would be -- he would be held there until they send him to whatever prison he is then assigned to.

HARLOW: If he got jailed on.

JORDAN: If he got jailed.

HARLOW: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Our Fulton County's District Attorney wants to get Donald Trump's trial underway in 59 days. How is that possible for a case of this magnitude?

HARLOW: Also this morning, we do have an update for you from Maui. The number of people missing after the wildfires there has dropped. Significantly, we're going to tell you what it is and we'll explain why.

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JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well, I thought it was as with most things Trump does carefully staged. They must have thought about what look they wanted. He could have smiled. He could have looked benign. Instead he looks like a thug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That was Trump's former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, talking about this historic mug shot. Trump was arrested, booked, photographed, fingerprinted, now has an inmate number. He was then released under a bond agreement. He did not pay the full $200,000 instead he used a bail bonding company.

Joining us now, Criminal Defense Attorney and former Prosecutor in Fulton County, Clint Rucker, Jeremy Saland and Jen Jordan are back with us. Clint, I'm starting with you because you're joining the conversation.

For the sheriff who said that until somebody tells him different, the president, former president, is going to be treated like everybody else. How close to everybody else was this process for Trump?

CLINT RUCKER, FORMER FULTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, again, good morning and thank you for having me. I will tell you that the former president was treated like every other defendant in as much as he was required to post a bond to actually appear personally at the Fulton County Jail and go through the normal booking process, which included the surrendering of his fingerprints and the taking of a mug shot photo.

The mechanism for accomplishing that though was quite unusual and in as much as his status as the former president, presented certain security concerns. And so they were able to work out that protocol.

[06:20:09]

But in as much as we are now able to see, unfortunately, a former elected president of the United States being booked in charge with a felony and to have his mug shot photo plastered across every newspaper almost in the world is really tragic.

HARLOW: It is sort of -- so we just got the papers, they weren't even here by the time the show started early at 5:00. But here's a Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal, Trump's right on the front there, a little smaller on the Times, Washington Post, same thing. And this is going to be not just here but around the world.

Jeremy, let's just push forward to Monday. Mark Meadows goes before a judge, wants to get this thing moved to federal court. And that would -- and Trump would want that too. So where does that go on Monday?

SALAND: Meaning where -- so there'll be hearing on --

HARLOW: What happens Monday and when do we know the outcome?

SALAND: So there will be a hearing on Monday and they're going to be witnesses called on Monday. This is not going to be just some light hearing. It's going to have substance.

HARLOW: That's their state?

SALAND: Correct, correct. For Georgia, so correct. That's absolutely correct. So the issue is going to be as I've noted many times before, not whether or not these folks meeting Meadows, for example, and Clark and Trump were actually serving as officers, although whether Trump is an officer is a separate question. It's more of whether or not their actions while they were serving or furthering their roles as whatever role they had, not doing something beyond the scope of their duties in that position.

So I think it's going to be difficult for the defense to articulate that. And it doesn't have to be we use a term proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That's not the role anyway, but it just has to be colorable enough to get them past that threshold. But even that low threshold is not going to be so easy because what are they doing in the State of Georgia? Why are they mingling in the State of Georgia and the rights of those residents to vote and have the vote counted? That's a difficult hurdle. When is there going to be an answer? Not that day. Not that day.

BLACKWELL: How much do you think we'll learn that we don't know already from the indictment on Monday?

SALAND: You know, you're going to hear from potential witnesses that you would not have heard of in the grand jury that are not necessarily set forth in the four corners of an indictment. So you will likely learn more because you're going to have an opportunity to hear directly from them.

JORDAN: I mean, two of the attorneys that were representing Trump world, right? And that were on that call with Raffensperger and Meadows have been subpoenaed as well. As was the investigator, I think her name's Frances Watson. And so the whole point is to show exactly what did Meadows do? Who did he talk to? What was he asking? Because just because he was the Chief of Staff for the president just doesn't mean well, then he gets this special treatment, right?

And really what Fani Willis' office, what their argument is, is what he was doing was really in violation of the law, not in terms of the indictment, but the Hatch Act, right? When you are --

HARLOW: You can't use your public office --

JORDAN: That's right. You cannot even be --

HARLOW: -- for personal gain.

JORDAN: Or any kind of electioneering or kind of political activity. So you can't then say, well, I was doing this political activity and electioneering, but I was the chief of staff, ergo, I get this protection. It falls outside of that.

HARLOW: Clint, given your extensive experience in Fulton County as a former prosecutor there, October 23rd, 59 days from now, as a trial start, if they get it, because one of the lawyers, Kenneth Chesebro, wants a speedy trial, which defendants have a right to.

RUCKER: Right.

HARLOW: Fani Willis' team, all ready for that? No problem?

RUCKER: Listen, after 25 years of experiencing that office and having worked personally with Fani Willis, I can tell you that her team is ready and prepared to go. They were ready for trial when the indictment was handed down. Those folks have got their witnesses lined up and they've got their trial notebooks all set. And when October comes, they'll be prepared.

And a bit of quick insight, the fact that there are 19 people on this indictment under RICO, this is not unprecedented for this office. DA Willis and myself a few years ago had a RICO case in which 35 individuals were indicted under RICO, 21 of those individuals entered into negotiated guilty pleas and accepted responsibility and testified during the trial with 12 that actually were tried together.

So the longest criminal jury trial in Georgia history, a little more than eight months. But the complex was able to accommodate all those defendants, all those lawyers, all the evidence. And we were able to present a comprehensive case to the jury. And 11 of the 12 received guilty convictions. And so the prospect of this case is not overwhelming or unprecedented for this defense team in this office.

[06:25:02]

HARLOW: They certainly have a lot of experience in RICO, including an ongoing one right now. Appreciate it.

RUCKER: Right.

HARLOW: Very good to have all your perspective.

BLACKWELL: Our next, hear from Vladimir Putin, as he makes his first remarks, since the man who led an armed rebellion against him reportedly died in a plane crash. We will take you live to Russia.

HARLOW: Also this morning CNN Greece on the ground there, reporting that four arrests have been made as police investigate what started those massive wildfires in the western part of the country. They're looking into whether arsonists are to blame. Right now, across Greece, firefighter is still battling dozens of flames.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Terrible experience. I came in, I was treated very nicely. But it is what it is. I took a mug shot, which I never heard the words mug shot. That wasn't -- they didn't teach me that at the Wharton School of Finance. And I have to go through a process. It's election interference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That was former President Trump on Newsmax last night, calling in after he surrendered at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. The former president is now selling t-shirts, mugs, merch with his mug shot.

It has never surrendered big and bold on the front of the t-shirts that are for sale, even though he did surrender four times this year. By the way, back with us, Mario Parker, Patricia Murphy, Jeremy Saland, and Jen Jordan, the former Georgia State Senator, who also testified in this investigation and Criminal Defense Attorney and former Fulton County Prosecutor, Clint Rucker.

Clint, let me just start with you and how this is viewed -- I don't know, you worked so long in that office. And you worked with Fani Willis too. You had conversations with him.