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CNN This Morning

Trump Endorses Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for House Speaker; ABC News Reports, Trump Allegedly Shared Nuclear Submarine Secrets With Australian Billionaire at Mar-a-Lago in 2021; Ukraine Says, Ten-Year- Old, His Grandmother Killed in Russian Missile Attack. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 06, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Before the game, the teams honored football hall of famer Dick Butkus, who passed earlier in the day. He was considered one of the greatest defensive players in league history, making the pro-ball in eight of his nine season before a knee injury forcing to retire at the age of 31.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Butkus enjoyed a long second career as a sports broadcaster, actor and pitch man. Dick Butkus, a legend, was 80 years old.

CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former president Donald Trump endorsed Congressman Jim Jordan for speaker of the House.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned than any other member.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Him becoming speaker would basically be icing on the cake of this is Donald Trump's party.

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: There's just so much uncertainty about who their next speaker is going to be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump shared potentially sensitive information about nuclear submarines with a Mar-a-Lago club member.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The pattern of Trump loose with sensitive information and the government's secrets.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The relevance is to intent. I think this could be golden evidence for prosecutors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Biden administration will restart deporting Venezuelans to help curb the influx of migrant crossings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is real urgency around this, but he needs to be seen as doing something. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time is really the major hurdle here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Good Friday morning, everyone. Erica Hill is with me. Poppy is off today. It is Friday. But if you're a House Republican, you have a busy, busy weekend ahead trying to figure out, well, I don't know, how to get the House back into session and operating.

HILL: Kind of important to figure out.

MATTINGLY: I heard it's important, trying to figure out who the speaker is.

And new this morning, Donald Trump is taking himself out of the race for House speaker, to be clear, never really in it, but he is giving Jim Jordan his complete and total endorsement as House Republicans scramble to replace Kevin McCarthy with just weeks left to prevent a government shutdown.

The former president had been floating the idea of being speaker himself temporarily, even though he's embroiled in a civil fraud trial and four different felony criminal cases while also running for president.

HILL: So, looking ahead here, the house GOP conference is set to meet on Monday as they race to pick their new leader. They'll hear from candidates, Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise, during a forum on Tuesday. An internal election is expected Wednesday. And we could potentially see the House vote on a new speaker that same day, if, and this is the if, there's a candidate who can unify enough Republicans.

It is a tall task, a very important one. They, of course, need to win support from both moderates and those hardliners who voted McCarthy out. Jordan telling CNN he believes he's the guy who can do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How are you going to get them in line if you were to become the speaker?

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): I mean, I disagree with what took place, but those guys are friends of mine, and, you know, I think that's the message I've been talking to my colleagues about, is who can bring the eight into the, you know, part of the team who can unite our team. I think I can do that. If I didn't think I could do that, I wouldn't run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And we have team coverage following all the elements of this story. Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill, but let's start with CNN National Correspondent Kristen Holmes. The endorsement last night came very late after floating a lot of different possibilities none tethered to reality in terms of his own role in the speaker's race but the endorsement matters. How did he get here? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Phil and Erica. I mean, it came after an absolutely chaotic day of Donald Trump inserting himself into an already tumultuous situation with the Republican caucus on the Hill and turning it into a circus. He was floating the idea to members on the Hill that he was going to come up and speak to the fractured party.

He did an interview in which he said he'd be willing to serve as interim speaker, an interview that even some of his advisers didn't know he was doing, the same advisers who were telling reporters for several days that Donald Trump, not in any way, was taking this speakership floating situation seriously at all, that he was focused only on running for president. Of course, this is true Donald Trump fashion.

So, then we see this endorsement for Jim Jordan just after midnight where Trump says he is strong on crime, borders, our military vets and Second Amendment. Jim, his wife, Polly, and family are outstanding. He will be a great speaker of the House and has my complete and total endorsement.

Now, a couple things. I was told that some GOP lawmakers were expressing concern of Trump outwardly flirting with this idea of being interim speaker, that that would ultimately hurt Jim Jordan the longer he was doing that. So, that might have led to some of this endorsement quicker.

The other thing to point here is that it's not really surprising that Trump backed Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan is a staunch MAGA supporter, he has been leading these investigation into President Biden and is somebody who has really stood by the former president through pretty much everything, been one of his biggest defenders. He also has endorsed Trump in 2024, something that Steve Scalise has not done.

[07:05:00]

HILL: An important note there. So, Lauren, you asked Jim Jordan specifically how he thought he could unite them. He didn't give a real answer on that in terms of specifics, but I wonder if he's able to unite more folks now simply because of this Trump endorsement.

FOX: Well, there's a couple of things to keep in mind when it comes to Jim Jordan. One of them is that Trump endorsement likely only helps him with conservatives and members of the House Freedom Caucus that likely he already could have locked up at this point.

Really, Jim Jordan's difficulty and the path ahead for him is going to be whether or not he can lock down moderate support, whether he can get the support and backing of some of those Republicans who are running in Biden-won districts, whether he can convince them that he's the right man for the job.

Because as Kristen was laying out, this is a guy on Capitol Hill who has led every investigation into Joe Biden, who has also been at the forefront of defending Donald Trump at moments when other members in the Republican Party would maybe wish that Republicans would take a step back and let Donald Trump go his own way. So, that is one of the key questions. Behind the scenes,

Jim Jordan's argument to some of those members is we need to unite in this moment and I'm the guy who knows the rebels and can convince them to come with us as we move forward.

He also argues he has an effective messaging strategy. He is someone who's on Fox News. He is someone who has a clear direction of where he thinks the party should be going, something that I think some Republicans wonder if Kevin McCarthy was as effective at.

So, that is his argument. Whether or not he can sell those moderates or McCarthy allies remains another question. Erica, Phil?

MATTINGLY: The critical question at that. Kristen Holmes, Lauren Fox, great reporting. Thank you.

HILL: A new report about Donald Trump's alleged mishandling of classified information this morning, ABC News is reporting months after he left the White House, Trump allegedly shared sensitive information about U.S. nuclear submarines with an Australian billionaire, a man named Anthony Pratt.

The reporting is that this happened at Mar-a-Lago in April of 2021, in which an excited Trump leaning toward Pratt, as if to be discreet, told Pratt the supposed exact number of nuclear warheads U.S. submarines routinely carry and exactly how close they can supposedly get to a Russian submarine without being detected.

Pratt later described Trump's remarks to 6 journalists, 11 employees, 10 Australian officials and 3 former Australian prime ministers.

MATTINGLY: CNN has confirmed that federal investigators have interviewed Pratt as part of the special counsel's classified documents probe. Pratt is also reportedly on the list of potential witnesses who may testify at trial.

A spokesperson for Trump issued this statement in response, quote, these illegal leaks are coming from sources which totally lack proper context and relevant information. President Trump did nothing wrong, has always insisted on truth and transparency, and acted in a proper manner according to the law.

So, who is the guy that Trump was allegedly spilling classified information to? Well, Anthony Pratt's ties to the former president go back years, Trump even attended the opening of one of Pratt's plants in Ohio. He said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: A lot of people don't tell you about Anthony, but I'll tell you about Anthony. He is the most successful man in Australia.

He's a great man and he's my friend and I appreciate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: Joining us now is CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Thanks for coming in.

The first thing I want to try and understand the level of sensitivity of this information. Is this a national security risk? How big of a deal is this?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: Well, Phil, it's absolutely a national security risk. There is very little information in our federal government that we protect more seriously than that nuclear weapons national defense information.

And just as an indicator of that is most people know a sitting president, not of course a former president, but a sitting president has the ability to declassify most top secret classified data at his discretion. This is one of those rare categories of information, nuclear weapons material, that is classified not by presidential order, but by statute. So, the president himself or herself cannot declassify this information at their own at his discretion. It is at the heart of the most sensitive material that we have to protect in our federal government.

HILL: I found it interesting, too, especially when you put this information in that context, just how sensitive it is. Joe Hockey, the former Australian ambassador to the U. S. downplaying the reporting, telling CNN, and I'm quoting here, that this was a joint program. Similarly, we share weapons technology. If the conversations between Trump and Pratt is as reported, there's been nothing said that we all did not know. Downplaying it there that maybe they knew, but the reality is a private citizen likely should not know and certainly should not share.

[07:10:00]

MCCABE: Well, that's right, Erica. You know, the former ambassador is certainly correct in terms of his description of how close we are with our Australian colleagues. They are one of our Five Eyes partners and our closest intelligence partnerships around the globe.

However, protecting national security information is not based on making kind of game time, do-it-yourself decisions when you're talking to your buddy at Mar-a-Lago. You have to. We are all obligated to protect that information all the time, and that means complying with the very clear legal regime, the laws that surround how you can discuss information, who you can discuss it to, where this can take place, which, of course, in this case, would only be in a sensitive compartmented information facility, a SCIF.

So, yes, we are very close to the Australians, maybe this person or others knew this information, but that does not make it lawful or a good idea to share that information, certainly somewhere like Mar-a- Lago.

MATTINGLY: You know, the first question I had is, given the gravity of this, at least in terms of how it appears, why would it not be in the indictment? It's not. MCCABE: Yes, that's a good question, Phil. So, first of all, let's remember, there's already 41 counts in that indictment. So, there's plenty for the prosecutors to work with. This would be a really interesting charge because this would be the first charge of dissemination, not just unlawful retention of national defense information, but he could potentially be charged with disseminating national defense information to a foreign national, which carries very serious penalties.

However, in this case, what you have is a few people's recollections of what the president may or may not have said. He undoubtedly would dispute that. So, there may be underlying evidentiary issues that make this not the strongest issue to bring as an independent charge.

However, I'm absolutely confident prosecutors will use this exchange with Mr. Pratt. They'll enter this as evidence of the president's intent and his habit, his pattern of treating national defense information incredibly recklessly. It will ultimately be very damaging at trial against the president.

MATTINGLY: Okay. Andrew McCabe, I appreciate your time as always. Thank you.

MCCABE: Thanks.

HILL: New strikes overnight in Ukraine just hours after one of the deadliest attacks against civilians since the start of this war, the death toll on a residential village, now rising to 52. CNN is live on the ground.

MATTINGLY: Plus, new body camera footage just released showing the arrest of the suspect and rapper Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder. We're going to show it to you. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

HILL: Happening overnight, Russian missiles striking at least three residential buildings in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, killing a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother. At least 27 others were injured.

Ukrainian officials say Russia launched a massive drone attack overnight, damaging port infrastructure as well as a grain silo on the Danube River, and the death toll rising this morning in the eastern region of Kupiansk, where officials say now 52 people were killed yesterday.

That's where CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us. He is live for us this morning. Fred, your descriptions yesterday were just heartbreaking, horrific. What more are you seeing today?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Erica. Well, first of all, that missile that hit Kharkiv today is the same kind of missile that hit this building yesterday. And I can show you here the aftermath of what's going on.

The authorities here, unfortunately, very early on realized that they weren't going to find any survivors here in this building. So as you can see, this has gone from being a search and rescue to a recovery to now essentially a cleanup operation that's going on, on the ground here.

But you're absolutely right. We got here last night shortly after all this took place. It was absolute carnage. Here's what we witnessed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice over): Utter destruction and chaos after the massive explosion. As night fell, bodies still strewn across the area as search and rescue crews scoured the debris.

This man weeping in front of a body bag, too shaken to talk to us, we learned his name is Sergei (ph) and the deceased was his wife.

As you can see this building was completely annihilated when it was hit by the missile. The Ukrainians are saying that this was an Iskander missile launched by the Russians. That is a very heavy missile that is normally used to destroy large troop formations or even armored vehicles. And as you can see, it completely devastated this building right here.

The Ukrainians say more than 50 people were killed. It's very difficult for them to identify some of the bodies because they are in such bad shape.

They also say what was going on here was an event around a funeral. And they say that the people who were attending that event were all local folks.

There was chaos, the chief investigator tells us. There was a fire which was extinguished by firefighters. Of course, evacuation measures were taken to get people out of the rubble.

Obviously, all of this is still very fresh and a lot of the search and rescue crews are still very much at work. We can see over there that some of the first responders are still busy sort of doing the forensics on the scene here and also still putting bodies into body bags. There's a lot of them laying around here and a lot of them being taken away by some of these crews here.

One of the other things that we can see over there is that obviously this was some sort of recreational area. There still seems to be some sort of playground that was also heavily damaged when the missile hit.

Ukraine's president visiting Spain pinning the blame on Russia.

Tragically, because of this inhuman terrorist attack, 50 civilians were killed during a funeral. Russia does this every day in the Kharkiv region and only air defense can help. But that help will be too late for Sergei's (ph) wife and the others killed. The only thing he can do for her now is help the crews lift her body to be taken away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): And as you mentioned, Erica, the death toll now stands at 52. We can look once again just the devastation that was brought on by this explosion.

You just heard there also from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, some of the anger. And one of the things that we can tell you right now, Erica, is that we've already seen a Ukrainian war crimes prosecutor on the ground here already doing their work.

[07:20:03]

Erica?

HILL: Fred Pleitgen, I appreciate it. Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, following one of the deadliest attacks on civilian infrastructure since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the White House says the need for continued U.S. military support to Kyiv is clear as the growing rift over additional funding looms large in the Republican speakership fight.

In addition to Ukraine aid, the next House speaker will also inherit critical battles over federal spending, the growing deficit and the southern border crisis.

Joining us now is Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana. She's also the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress. Congresswoman, thank you so much for the time.

I want to start with where Fred left off from on the ground in Ukraine. You have said you agree with Congressman Jim Jordan's idea that more accountability is needed for Ukraine aid. Would you support somebody in the speaker's race who did not want additional Ukraine aid?

REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ (R-IN): Well, listen, I think, you know, we have a different opinion, but I'll be honest. I think a majority of people understand that it's a very serious war, and ultimately we as a country, you know, we forced Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons.

So, it's important for us, you know, that we help, you know, Ukraine, you know, to win that war. But it's also important that, you know, there is a proper oversight that we have a proper strategy and allow actions with this strategy.

I hope it's a wake-up call for President Biden and some of the senators to understand that we have to start providing weapons to the military. That is the only way to get now very aggressive dictator to the table. You know, we've been playing politics with him for a while and have a serious crisis of governing Washington, D.C., and strategy.

MATTINGLY: On that point, you know, there are just an amendment votes related to U.S. military assistance to Ukraine. Members of your party, I think it's grown by 10, 15, 20 that want to strip it entirely, put it an end to it entirely inside the House Republican Conference. How do you thread that needle given it seems to be a growing sentiment in your conference to end it entirely?

SPARTZ: Well, I think, listen, I mean, this issue has been politicized. And I told a lot of Democrats, you're playing politics, not really communicating with Congress effectively, not explaining why it is a national interest of our country, and also, you know, not dealing with domestic issues.

These are not mutual exclusive issues. We have to be good in all fronts. And they haven't been doing that. And I think it allows, you know, people get upset, but it also allows Russia to do a lot of propaganda to destabilize. And they're good at propaganda. Don't underestimate them with their hybrid wars.

And I think, you know, we are not proactive and not governing. And I think that's the biggest problem and not taking this war seriously. So, I hope it's a wake-up call also for the administration and the Senate to start dealing more effectively, because we have to deal with this very, very serious war.

MATTINGLY: You mentioned not governing. That would be a good way to describe the House at this point in time with no speaker. Have you decided whether you want to back Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise or somebody else?

SPARTZ: Well, this is actually a crisis of governing in Congress. This actually has been for very long, while, unfortunately, for decades, you know, playing politics in circuses. So, at least it brought transparency now to the American people. So, hopefully, now, under pressure, we'll start doing some good things for the people, you know?

And I'm going to -- look, I said I'm open-minded. I honestly, second time of circuses, we have real issues. I want to see who can be the leader to deliver for the people, to be able to do some, at least incremental positive change on our debt situation, which is getting catastrophic and also securing our border.

It's extremely important, and we need to stop playing politics with people's lives and push on the Senate. And I hope it can be on a bipartisan basis, because the Senate is so consumed now with elections and doing nothing. I mean, it's really disappointing for me.

MATTINGLY: Does President Trump's -- former President Trump's endorsement of Jim Jordan weigh on your calculation at all?

SPARTZ: Listen, I actually am a very independent-minded person. I'm looking at the person's capabilities and want to see their plan and mission, how to achieve it. I mean, I really just driven by my own assessment always, and very independent thinkers, and hold my party accountable as much as the other party.

MATTINGLY: Congresswoman, a week or two ago, the time has compressed a little bit at this point, given how crazy things have been. You put a very strong statement saying, if you did not have a debt commission by the end of this year, you would resign, and then very critical of leadership. Does that still stand, even though there is no longer a Speaker McCarthy? The next speaker of the House will also have to deliver on that, or you will resign?

SPARTZ: Well, listen, I need to assess if it's worthwhile, because I think it's an important issue. Because you need to understand, next year, everyone is going to be doing fundraising and campaigning. And I don't need to be there talking, do presentation. If there is something useful, I'm going to do.

But, listen, we have to start governing.

[07:25:00]

And if I'm not going to be able to deliver, I'm not going to waste time and take time from family and a lot of other issues. But I do care about this country, and I hope the next leader will be serious and actually try to find ways how we can deliver for the people.

So, I'm very open-minded in all of these situations. I just mainly wanted people to know what a broken this institution is, and I think we need to do something about it. And I hope, on a bipartisan basis, we'll start putting pressure on politicians to start doing something good.

MATTINGLY: All right. Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

SPARTZ: Thank you for having me.

HILL: The United Auto Workers strike, now entering its fourth week. The economic losses connected to that strike, we got a closer look at those just ahead.

MATTINGLY: And new body camera footage just released showing the rest of the man suspected of killing rapper Tupac Shakur, what he said to police after they took him into custody. We'll have it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Today, the President of the United Auto Workers union is set to speak as the strike enters its fourth week. That union president, Shawn Fain, tweeted this picture from the Bachelorette with the big three automakers superimposed as contestants' heads, teasing that one of them would get the rose today.

Now, it comes as only about 17 percent of the union's 150,000 workers are currently striking while the rest are still working. It's unclear right now if the strike will expand.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now. Good graphics. What does it mean?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, today at 2:00 P.M., we're expecting to hear from UAW President Shawn Fain. This is his signature Facebook Live that he's done for the past couple of weeks.

We know that he's going to be giving substantial bargaining updates today between what's happening with the Union and the big three.

[07:30:00]

What we don't know is will he expand any strikes against the big three.

We know that General Motors and Ford put new offers on the table this week, but the benchmark for Fain --