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CNN This Morning
Fani Willis Testifies in Misconduct Hearing for Georgia Election Subversion Case; Trial Date Set for Trump's Hush-Money Case to Begin; Two Teens in Custody after KC Mass Shooting; IDF: 20 Suspects Detained from October 7 Attacks; Harris at Security Conference to Reassure Allies. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 16, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: An all-star weekend for the first time. So looking forward to it.
[06:00:05]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It sounds awesome. I'm jealous. Sounds like a great weekend for you.
And also, Caitlin Clark, man. What a legend! That performance out of this world.
SCHOLES: It's going to be so much fun as we get closer to March Madness with Caitlin Clark involved, Kasie. I cannot wait.
HUNT: It's so much fun to watch her play. It's just an absolute thrill, and I love that it's making -- it's given women's basketball a real boost.
Andy, thank you so much. Have fun this weekend.
And thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Have a great weekend. Don't go anywhere. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning, everyone. I'm Erica Hill with Omar Jimenez here in New York.
This morning, Donald Trump is waiting for three different rulings in three different courtrooms. From Georgia to New York to the Supreme Court.
The former president's legal battles are really reaching a peak this morning. And we're going to break down what you can expect today.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: And the Republicans' impeachment inquiry takes a hit this morning after the special counsel charged a former FBI informant with lying about President Biden and his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine.
And in Kansas City, it was a personal conflict that sparked the fatal shooting that really ruined the Chiefs' celebration. Police are still holding two teens, but no charges have been filed yet. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
HILL: A critical day ahead here for Donald Trump's criminal case in Georgia and also for the fate of his business empire in New York.
Just hours from now in Atlanta, district attorney -- Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is set to take the stand again. This, of course, comes on the heels of a day of explosive testimony that could disqualify her from that election racketeering case against Donald Trump.
Now, she has denied under oath she was already in a secret romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she hired. That special prosecutor was then paid more than $650,000 for his work on the case and allegedly took Willis on lavish vacation. That's a lot of what we heard yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You and Mr. Wade met in October 2019 at a conference?
FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: That is correct. I think in one of your motions, you tried to implicate I slept with him at that conference, which I find to be extremely offensive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You started dating surely shortly thereafter, correct?
WILLIS: A lie. That's one of your lies.
Youve been intrusive good into people's personal lives. You're confused.
No, no, no, no. This is the truth, Judge. It is a lie. It is a lie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), thank you. We're going to take five minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, here in New York, the judge in Trump's civil fraud trial is expected to rule how much the former president and his family business need to pay in damages. The fine could be as much as $370 million.
Also, the trial date has been set in Trump's hush-money payments trial. It will proceed next month after a judge rejected Trump's request to delay it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE; We want delays, obviously. I'm running for election. I can't -- how can you run for election and be sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long? (END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And if all that was not enough for you, any day now, we can expect a crucial decision from the Supreme Court, Trump making his final pitch that he has absolute immunity from prosecution as he tries to delay going to trial on federal charges brought by special counsel, Jack Smith.
HILL: So with all of that, let's first break down the highlights from that very fiery testimony in Georgia. Here's CNN's Nick Valencia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIS: I've been very anxious to have this conversation with them today. Why, I ran to the courtroom.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A defiant Fulton County D.A., Fani Willis, take the stand today after weeks of fighting allegations that she personally benefited from a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hand-picked to spearhead the sprawling racketeering charges against Donald Trump and his allies.
WILLIS: I've probably had some choice words about some of the things that you say that were dishonest within this motion. So I don't know that it was a conversation. As you know, Mr. Wade is a Southern gentleman. Me, not so much.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Willis not hiding her anger over the allegations, at one point being called a hostile witness by the defense.
WILLIS: I very much want to be here, so I'm not a hostile witness.
VALENCIA (voice-over): While both Wade and Willis have admitted to the relationship they had; they say it began only after Wade took the job. That timeline also a major point of contention in the hearing today.
Before Willis took the stand, the first witness of the day directly contradicted Wade and Willis's previous statements to the court.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have no doubt that their romantic relationship was in effect from 2019 until the last time you spoke with her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No doubt.
VALENCIA (voice-over): That's three years earlier than when Wade said in an affidavit their relationship started. But Wade holding firm to that date when he took the stand.
NATHAN WADE, SPECIAL PROSECUTOR IN TRUMP'S ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE: Early '22 was the start of any intimate sexual relationship with the district attorney.
[06:05:03] VALENCIA (voice-over): As did Willis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When did you start dating?
WILLIS: When I started dating Mr. Wade? It was right around then.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: April 2020?
WILLIS: Twenty-two, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-two.
WILLIS: It was around then, yes. I don't know, like -- you know, it's not like when you're in grade school, when you send a little letter and it says, "Will you be my girlfriend?" and you check it.
VALENCIA (voice-over): But then there's the money trail. Defense attorneys pressing on whether or not Wade paid for Willis when the two vacationed together, trying to suggest that he used money he made from his taxpayer-funded contract at the D.A.'s office on Willis.
Both maintain that they split their vacation expenses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So all of the vacations that she took, she paid you cash for?
WADE: Yes, ma'am.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Willis confirming the same in her testimony.
WILLIS: Because we went out multiple times. That probably went to the level of more than $100. But if were doing tit-for-tat like that, I probably paid for as many meals as he paid for. And so I did not receive any gifts from him.
VALENCIA (voice-over): And at times forcefully pushing back with the defense attorney who first launched the allegations.
WILLIS: These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I'm not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALENCIA (on camera): Willis is expected to continue her testimony later this morning, and we could hear from other witnesses, including the district attorney's father.
The judge who's presiding over this case has already said he is not going to make a ruling from the bench -- Omar, Erica.
JIMENEZ: All right. Thank you, Nick.
We've got a lot to talk about so let's bring in CNN senior crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz; CNN legal analyst, Michael Moore; strategic communications expert Lee Carter; and CNN political commentator Errol Louis. All right, Katelyn, I want to go to you. Obviously, that was talking
about the case out of Georgia. Let's look at the New York hush money case in -- here in New York for -- for to start with.
Judge set a trial date March 25th. How significant is that?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is a pretty sobering moment for the country. A former president now has his first criminal trial date, five weeks from the beginning of next week. That is not a long time between now and when we see Donald Trump as a criminal defendant before a jury.
March 25 is when in New York he will go before the jury. Jury selection begins on that date. The -- the trial itself could be anywhere between six weeks, two months. There were a couple of different ideas of how long that that will last.
But it looks like there will be a trial that will very likely result in some sort of verdict for Donald Trump by the end of May.
Now when you put that up against the calendar, that is well after the bulk of the primary season and before the Republican nominating convention.
And so this is a moment where Donald Trump is spending his time, not on the campaign trail, but in a courtroom facing these charges of business falsification of records related to money he was trying to hide in 2016.
HILL: And one important point of clarification on it, because I also want to ask you about what we could learn today, is that he actually has to be in court for that, correct? All these other moments, despite what he may claim that he has to be there, he does not. Those are choices that he has made. This time, he does need to be there.
POLANTZ: By all accounts. We would expect. I mean, there are certain circumstances where you don't actually have to be in court as a criminal defendant, but we should ---
HILL: Right.
POLANTZ: -- pretty much expect him to be there before the jury on this.
And the reality of it, too, is that he's going to keep claiming that he's not being allowed to campaign.
HILL: Right.
POLANTZ: And yesterday in court, the judge heard that from his lawyer and then said, "That's not a legal argument."
HILL: So that one didn't really work.
JIMENEZ: Not in this case, but look, we've got -- there's a lot of cases here, a lot of places to go. I want to go back to the Georgia case, because obviously, it was a pretty stunning moment where Fani Willis actually gets on the stand.
It did not feel like a typical witness who would be cross-examined. It felt like it was a prosecutor pushing back against an attorney. So I'm curious. I'll start with you, Lee. What were -- what were your initial impressions from what we heard and Fani Willis's posture on that witness stand?
LEE CARTER, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Well, I think what's really interesting is you're going to take away from it what you wanted to. It was great television. It was very dramatic.
If you believe that, you know, this is irrelevant to the -- to Trump's case, you're going to leave saying this is completely irrelevant to Trump's case.
If you believe that this is a demonstration that this system is rigged, that democracy isn't working as it should, that the political system is all corrupt, you're going to leave this and say, you know what? This should never have happened. And I don't know why anyone would have put themselves in this position.
So I don't think this is going to move the needle all that much, as entertaining as it was, as defiant as she was, as you know, as all of this came out. I don't think it's really going to change anyone's mind at the end of the day.
HILL: There's -- there's the perception, there's almost a political aspect of it. There's also the legal aspect of it. So Michael, as you're watching this, did you find the questions effective in terms of getting at evidence, if it is there, to support these allegations?
[06:10:00]
MICHAEL MOORE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Not really. I mean, I think there were things they could have pushed a lot harder on and maybe a little -- dealt -- delved into specifics a little bit more, especially when we start talking about things as -- as nebulous as cash payments, and there's no way to track it. And how much cash was paid.
What -- did you really just pay for the $150 to negotiate the taxi or was there -- how would you do with the $4,000 you took? I think they could have pushed that.
I also thought that, you know, it just was not credible. It reminded me of watching a criminal defendant take the stand. You know, they don't have to do that. And you see it and you can tell that they -- the defendant thinks that they're smarter than every lawyer in the room. And it just becomes a train wreck.
And so that's sort of how I felt this -- it just went off the track.
HILL: When you say it wasn't credible, are you referring to the testimony from -- are you referring to the testimony? Are you referring to the line of questioning?
MOORE: To the testimony. I thought that there were things that, you know -- he was going to her house or -- and visiting her alone, some number of times years before she claims -- or a year before they claim they were night. Right? That strikes me as a little bit odd. I mean, and not a big deal, but was she having other -- entertaining other members of the prosecution team? No, it was just him. Nobody was there to see it.
They want to talk about the credibility of the lady at the D.A.'s office who testified, the witness who predates the relationship. You know, she had as much to -- of an ax to grind as they do, and probably they have more at risk than she does.
So when the judge weighs out credibility, who may have the -- a reason to lie, who has a reason to tell the truth, and which one seems to be more believable. You know, I have a hard time just thinking about a D.A. paying everything in cash. Nothing wrong with cash, but it's convenient right now.
You know, the trial in New York, I mean, it's a check, right, we're looking at. I wasn't cash shuttled around on the table. This is just cash money, somebody's claiming.
And then the visits there, the -- and sort of the indignation. I just didn't think it did her much good. Her indignation would have seemed a lot more sincere had she come out about two months ago.
But remember, even as she's there saying wanted to get to the truth and she's shaking the documents and the court filings around in front of everybody, her office is fighting everything. They're fighting every witness subpoena. They don't want the records to come in. She's refusing to let bank records and other things come in. They're hiding behind the privilege from his divorce lawyer who they're claiming was a friend, but maybe a divorce lawyer. So we really shouldn't have to say anything.
And we've still got this string of texts that Mr. Bradley had with one of the defense lawyers. Ms. Merchant. Let's see what those texts say, because apparently -- and she told the court, I've got information where he says this happened before. So if that's another witness, you know, let's see it. Let's let Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis let us see that.
(CROSSTALK)
ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, it was compelling television. We had it on in our newsroom. And so, you know, you couldn't get away from it.
She had a certain command of the situation and said a lot of things, some of which might or might be plausible. I chose not to go down the rabbit hole, in part because she's already got three guilty pleas from three of Trump's lawyers: in part because there's a lot at stake here.
And I didn't think they did such a good job of trying to tie it back. I understand that, in sort of the dog fight of the moment, you're trying to get certain facts before the judge and try to nail her down on certain dates and certain amounts of money. And the cash makes it that much harder and so forth. But I kept -- again, because I'm -- I'm sort of like dipping in and
out. And I'm thinking it's like what does this have to do with the guilt or innocence --
CARTER: Yes.
LOUIS: -- of the defendants in the case?
CARTER: We're now at this place where --
LOUIS: If she got hit by a bus, if Nathan Wade was disqualified or went away, nothing really changes. You've still got the defendants. You've still got the evidence. You've still got prosecution. You've got guilty keys [SIC] -- pleas and three of Trump's former lawyers who are cooperating with the prosecution.
CARTER: This just goes to the whether or not the American people are going to trust the system. The system it's supposed to be. And there's no reason why she had to put a lawyer that was compromised in this position.
Because you have to go -- I mean, when -- when you know that only 4 percent of Americans trust the political system to work as it should, only 14 percent of Americans trust the government to work as it should, you can't have this kind of -- and when you're at a trial at this level, of this importance, it's got to be above any kind of dispute. It's -- it's just -- it's really unfortunate that this is what we're talking about and not about -- and not the merits of the case.
LOUIS: Yes. That trip to Aruba could have waited.
POLANTZ: We're not talking about the defendants.
CARTER: That's exactly right.
JIMENEZ: Yes. And look, she's going to be back on the stand today. We'll see how that concludes. We don't expect the judge to make any ruling on it just yet, but obviously, a critical portion of this case.
Thank you, all. Katelyn Polantz, Michael Moore, Lee Carter, Errol Louis, really appreciate you guys.
HILL: We are also learning more this morning about what led up to that mass shooting after Kansas City's Super Bowl parade. And we have those details for you, just ahead.
JIMENEZ: And overnight, Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Germany. She's about to reassure European allies of America's commitment to NATO after Donald Trump's remark sparked a global outrage. Going to take you live to Munich, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:18:44] JIMENEZ: Overnight, people in Kansas City holding a vigil for the victims of Wednesday's shooting that left one person dead, and at least 20 others injured, many of them children.
So far, police have not announced any charges, although two teenagers are in custody.
The shooting happened at the end of the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory celebration were about a million people were packed downtown.
Listen to Samuel Arellano, one of the youngest victims. He was shot in the rib.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMUEL ARELLANO, SHOOTING VICTIM: We see people fighting. And then they pull out a gun and started shooting three times. And I duck, like. And then one of them hit me. It felt like getting stabbed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And police say the shooting erupted after a dispute that spiraled out of control.
Let's go now to CNN's Whitney Wild, who is in Kansas City for us. So Whitney, obviously a lot has happened since the shooting, but what more do we know about where the investigation stands?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, a law enforcement source tells CNN's Josh Campbell that the ATF is processing the ballistic evidence. That is going to be a crucial part of this investigation, because there was so much gunfire, because firearms were recovered at that scene.
[06:20:02]
Right now, here in Kansas City, there is a race to find justice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILD (voice-over): New details are emerging about the people being held by police and the terrifying moments that led to one person killed and more than 20 hurt, including half of them children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All units take shelter on the West side. Shooter in place.
WILD (voice-over): Kansas City Police say Wednesday's shooting was the result of a personal dispute in the area, not an attack of terror on the celebration.
CHIEF STACEY GRAVES, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, POLICE: Preliminary investigative findings have shown there was no nexus to terrorism or homegrown violent extremism.
WILD (voice-over): KCPD detained three people, including two juveniles. The third person was let go after police determined there was no connection to the shooting. Law enforcement also recovered several firearms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have nine gunshot wounds to the West.
GRAVES: The 22 victims' age range between 8 years old and 47 years old. At least half of our victims are under the age of 16.
LISA LOPEZ-GALVAN, MURDER VICTIM: D.J. Lisa G here.
WILD (voice-over): Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local D.J. and mother of two, was tragically shot and killed. She's remembered by the radio station she volunteered at as "an amazing person who gave so much to KKFI and the KC community."
MANNY ABARCA, ATTENDED CHIEFS PARADE, FRIEND OF LISA LOPEZ-GALVAN: Lisa leaves behind an incredible legacy. She comes from a very large family of civic leaders. Actively and regularly engaged in both the Latino community of Kansas City.
GRAVES: To her friends and family, we are with you. And we are working tirelessly to investigate her murder.
WILD (voice-over): Witnesses recalled the chaotic scene Wednesday, where an estimated 1 million people gathered in celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs' back-to-back Super Bowl wins.
DAVE ARMSTRONG, WITNESS: And all of a sudden, pop. And we were like, Holy cow, what was that? And then all the cops come running out of the building. They were running into the building at first. Now they're running out of the building. And then they tell us to go, go, go.
L'JARIUS SNEED, CORNERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: It's not something you want to be in. Never.
WILD (voice-over): There are several accounts of Chiefs players and personnel comforting fans amidst the mayhem, including cornerback L'Jarius Sneed. He told ESPN he was surrounded by children while seeking shelter in a basement.
SNEED: I tried to calm them down in that situation, just tell them everything's OK. You know, just rubbing (ph) it back and just be like everything's going to be fine.
We were all there, trying to celebrate. You know, something -- a big accomplishment for us. And you know, we just tried to celebrate it with them. And for that to happen, it's very tragic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WILD: This community is rallying around the people who were injured in this case and, of course, around Lisa Lopez-Galvan's family. One of the faces of this franchise, a woman world-famous, Taylor Swift, who quickly became a part of this community throughout the course of the season, has pledged $100,000 to her Go Fund Me, Omar and Erica.
JIMENEZ: All right. Whitney Wild in Kansas City, thank you so much.
HILL: Happening this morning, Vice President Kamala Harris will try to reassure European allies. This after Donald Trump sent shockwaves through NATO. She is in Munich now. We're going to take you there, live, in just a moment.
JIMENEZ: And the FBI director says the U.S. and its allies cut off a major Russian hacking operation. Those details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:26:50]
JIMENEZ: Just in to CNN, the IDF says it's detained more than 20 people suspected of taking part in the October 7th attacks as its raid of the largest functioning hospital in Gaza continues.
The Israeli military also says it found weapons inside the facility, but CNN hasn't been able to independently verify that photograph. The IDF, though, says the mission inside the hospital is still ongoing.
I want to get to CNN's Nic Robertson, who is live in Tel Aviv for us. So Nic, what more are you learning?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, there's a couple of things about the hospital we're learning. From the World Health Organization, say they are trying to work with the Israeli authorities to get access to the hospital and stabilize the situation there.
According to hospital authorities, electricity in the ICU unit and possibly oxygen -- the oxygen supply, are well -- as well are in critical condition. And this could threaten the lives of several patients and infants that are within the -- within the ICU, the critical care unit at the hospital there.
But to the -- what the IDF is saying, that they have now rounded up 20 suspects, they say who were involved in the October 7th attacks. They've released photographs of a few of them that we cannot independently ourselves verify were involved in the October 7th attacks.
The IDF described one of them as an ambulance driver. Again, something we can't verify.
The IDF originally went into the hospital, they said, because they had credible intelligence that there were possibly the bodies of hostages there. They had this intelligence, they say, from their sources and from other hostages.
The IDF point to the fact that hostages had been held in hospitals before, and according to hospital officials at the Nasser Hospital, the IDF were digging up bodies in some of the temporary graves that have been dug inside the hospital, to check those bodies.
But later in the day yesterday, Thursday, the IDF said that they were becoming aware that there could be terror operatives hiding amongst the displaced people within the hospital. And they began to filter out the displaced people from the hospital, taking into custody those suspects.
And now they say 20 suspects involved October 7th have now been rounded up from that hospital.
JIMENEZ: Yes. Well, Nic Robertson, going to continue to follow those updates. Thank you so much.
HILL: Overnight, Vice President Kamala Harris arriving in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, where she will try to reassure allies the U.S. has their back.
This of course, on the heels of comments from Donald Trump, saying he'd encourage Russia to attacked the members that don't meet defense spending guidelines.
European nations now thinking about investing in their own defenses in case they have to face a war without the U.S.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is joining us from Munich. So it is obviously a consequential moment here. The allies -- allies will be listening, obviously, for some sort of reinsurance [SIC]. But the reality is there's also an election looming.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And Kamala Harris can only provide limited assurance, frankly.
But the mere fact she needs to come here to, essentially, an annual gathering that is often the core of NATO policy, NATO members here, is a reflection of how significant Trump's comments have indeed been.
Not a real new position for him, but the fact he felt he needed to reiterate it, sending shock waves.
