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CNN This Morning
Special Counsel Files Superseding Indictment Against Trump; Hamas Calls For "Escalation Of Confrontation" After Deadly Israeli Strike In West Bank; Cold Front To Bring Severe Storms Across Midwest. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 28, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:42]
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: It's Wednesday, August 28th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
Donald Trump hit with a reworked indictment in his election interference case, thrusting his role -- his alleged role on January 6th back under the microscope ahead of November.
Tomorrow night right here on CNN, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz sit for their first joint interview. It's an opportunity for the campaign to address policy stances critics say they haven't taken.
And the demographics that may sway the election. We'll speak with a mayor of a pivotal swing states city where the Latino population is the town's majority.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the nation's Capitol Building on this Wednesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Donald Trump indicted once again, the special counsel Jack Smith forging ahead with a superseding indictment in the 2020 Trump election interference case. Despite last March -- last month's landmark Supreme Court ruling granting Trump partial immunity for official acts, the new indictment is a slimmed-down version of the original but prosecutors have not dropped any of the four charges that were initially brought against the former president.
It's extremely unlikely this case goes to trial before November, but it does put Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election back in the spotlight as the race for the White House enters its final months. Trump naturally calling the new indictment a witch hunt and accusing the special counsel of election interference in a post on social media.
Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, also underscored Trump's message. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yeah, I haven't read the whole thing. But it looks like Jack Smith doing more what he does, which is filing these lawsuits in an effort to influence the election. I think it's clearly an effort to try to do more election interference from Jack Smith. He should be ashamed of himself and it's one of the reasons why we have to win, because he should not be anywhere near power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Now, joining me now CNN legal analyst, criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson.
Joey, good morning to you. Let's dig into first why this is playing out this way. It's, of course, because of that Supreme Court immunity ruling with the distinction between public and private acts, but help us understand it.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, without question, Kasie. Listen, this indictment, good morning to you, is lean but mean, and I say that because of the fact that it has the essence of the prior indictment in terms of the charges, not the essence. It does have the charges, those four charges relating to defrauding the United States, obstructing an official proceeding, and, of course, impairing the ability to vote to others.
And so what they did in terms of understanding is they simply decided, that is Jack Smith and his team, that they were going to have an indictment that comported what the Supreme Court ruling that you noted. And how does it do that?
Well, if you cannot really do anything in terms of the official acts, you have to make it clear that these are unofficial acts of the president. It refers to him as a candidate for the United States. It withdraws the issues thereby making his conduct or really styling his conduct as it relates to private activity.
It takes out issues relating to his use of the Justice Department really to conduct these sham investigations into otherwise as pressure state electors. Why? Because the Supreme Court said that was a no-no in the event that you're engaging with your Department of Justice, that's an official act. Can't use that, takes out references to conversations with his chief of staff and other aides, et cetera.
And so what it does in its essence at the end of the day is making comport, right, arguably, I say arguably because of course it will be challenged by Trump's team and it should be, right? This is a process, but I think what this indictment does in keeping the other four charges, Kasie, that it originally had was really attempt to suggest that this was candidate Trump engaged in activities.
The interesting thing though, that's key then, the issues relating to the vice president. Now, that'll be subject of some contention because they said that is the Supreme Court, that those conversations and those interactions should be presumptively immune. However, prosecutors could rebut that presumption by demonstrating that it was outside, that is the activity, the realm of the president's official acts, and boarded into private activity.
[05:05:09]
So I think the indictment --
HUNT: Sure.
JACKSON: -- yes, it's paired down. Yes, it looks a little different, but it's still very strong.
HUNT: So, Joey, I want to ask you about one of the lines of criticism Republicans are leveling at this, which they're insisting that it violates what is -- what is the so-called 60-day rule?
Now this surfaced in a DOJ inspector general report. This is not a written down policy, but it is the way that they follow the rules here, it says that prosecutors avoid public disclosure of investigative steps related to electoral matters or the return of indictments against a candidate for office within 60 days of a primary or a general election.
The inspector general's report says that high-ranking department FBI officials acknowledged the existence of this general practice that informs department decisions. Obviously, this was really on display in 2016 when Jim Comey was investigating Hillary Clinton and since use of private email. We are more than 60 days, barely, but we are more than 60 days from election day. Still, the Trump folks are out there arguing that early voting is set to start in much less than 60 days, and that, that should impact the decision making here.
There's also the wrinkle that this is not an original indictments, a superseding one.
How do you view this potential conflict?
JACKSON: So a few ways. In terms of a superseding indictment, first of all, an indictment is merely an accusation. Members of a grand jury get together, grand juries of body of individuals, right, and those individuals do not decide guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They decide there's reason to believe that a crime was committed and Donald Trump, are at this and since committed it, the mere accusation.
It doesn't take them, it doesn't take a unanimous grand jury. It takes, of course, a majority of the grand jury. And so, in terms of that, I'd say the Jack Smith has an absolute obligation as a special prosecutor to do his job. That's number one.
Number two, the election, of course, itself, even though there's early voting is more than 60 days away. So they want to comport with that.
Number three, they would directed to engage in this activity because of the Supreme Courts finding. This is not something that they decided were going to just two against the president. They attempted to do at former president, they attempted to do it before the Supreme Court and its immunity ruling on July 1st, said they were deficiencies and so they came back in an effort to comply with those deficiencies.
And finally, Kasie, they did so because Judge Chutkan has an obligation. She's the judge presiding over this to make decisions. And so, this is not something that was done out of the blue. It comports with legal process and again, the indictment being not you're guilty, but an accusation he had to respond to and it would be a complete abdication of the special counsel had they done nothing.
So I think its certainly legally proper and appropriate.
HUNT: Interesting. All right. Joey Jackson, starting us off this morning -- Joey, always grateful to have you on the show. Thanks for being here.
JACKSON: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING: Gaza ceasefire talks back on today in Doha, coming directly on the heels of a rescue of an Israeli hostage and an escalation in the West Bank. We'll dig into it all.
Plus, Donald Trump made some inroads with Latino voters in 2020. We're going to speak with the majority -- of the mayor of majority Latino Pennsylvania town about who might win those voters over.
And after weeks of criticism of for avoiding hard questions, Kamala Harris will sit down with CNN for her first interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: You are interviewing me, Dana, because I respect the American people enough to sit down for him.
DANA BASH, CNN HOST: I appreciate that.
VANCE: Harris has been the nominee for three weeks. She hasn't sat down for a real interview.
BASH: We are --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[05:13:15]
HUNT: Developing story right now in the Middle East. Hamas is calling for a general mobilization and a, quote, escalation of confrontation, end quote, after Israel launched a major military operation overnight in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian health authorities say at least nine people have been killed. Israel is describing it as a counterterrorism operation. In the meantime, Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks are resuming
today in Doha and Israeli delegation will be joining negotiators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.
The talks come just after the rescue of 52-year-old Israeli hostage, Farhan al-Qadi. Al-Qadi is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive in Gaza by Israel and the first to be recovered from inside Hamas's elaborate tunnel network under Gaza. His family elated to hear he's alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATEM AL-QADI, BROTHER OF RESCUED HOSTAGE: I can't explain these feelings. It's better than being born again. God bless. We say thank you to everyone.
And we hope Farhan is good and healthy. We're very happy. We're very happy we're getting this news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London.
Max, good morning to you.
Obviously, a joyous reunion there for that family. But, of course, this taking place against a backdrop of a continuing islands and the peace talks resuming. I -- lets talk about how the especially the attack and what's going on in the West Bank right now, may interact with these ceasefire negotiations.
What's happening there, and how do you see this playing out over the course of the day?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: We'll have, of course, been Israeli incursions into the West Bank in the past, this feels like a much bigger one.
[05:15:04]
And the big question everyone's asking is, where does it go from here? How much of an escalation is this? Because if we have a situation where the war against Hamas is moving beyond Gaza and into the West Bank in a major way, the parameters of this war have changed, then it clearly has a big impact on the peace talks because the parameters of peace talks change.
We've had some very strong words coming from the Palestinian authority, which is in control in the West Bank, whilst Hamas is controlling Gaza, a very strong words coming from the foreign ministry there, saying there will be repercussions from this.
So this changes the dynamics of the war. If it is indeed an indicator about of a wider effort by Israel to expand the operation into the West Bank, where there are other groups dominant as well, Islamic Jihad, for example, as well. So it changes who they negotiate with and what the peace deals about.
HUNT: And, Max, on the hostage rescue, we saw that -- that happy family members there, but there are still 100-plus people we believe being held in Gaza right now. And, of course, this putting a lot of pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu at home in Israel to get some sort of deal here.
He doesn't seem to be bowing to it though.
FOSTER: A peace deal is so complex and this was a remarkable moment, of course, for the families you described what it must be like for him and them being locked away for all of those months.
The Israeli saying it's very complex operation. But they're not giving much detail. I think was really interesting is what were seeing in parts of the Israeli media just saying that he was on his own, that he somehow managed to evade his captors within the tunnel and then he was discovered by the Israeli forces.
Did he manage to escape his captors because of the operation or did he just manage to escape the captors? So, a pretty remarkable story there and a really hopeful one, but obviously, you know, he's making the point as everyone else is that there are still many more hostages there.
So this is, of course, central sort of peace deal as well. Be a priority for Netanyahu throughout has been to not just destroy, Hamas, but it's get the hostages out and it's a good sign for him that he's managed to get one out, but there are still many left and others, of course, have very sadly died since.
HUNT: Of course. All right. Max Foster for us this morning, Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here.
All right. Coming up after the break on CNN THIS MORNING:
With just a couple of months to go until the election how this new superseding indictment could impact your chances of winning back the White House.
Plus, football stars and brothers, the duo Travis and Jason Kelce reaching new heights. How they're cashing in with a new podcast deal. We're going to have and more coming up in the morning roundup.
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[05:22:29]
HUNT: All right, 21 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
AT&T working to address a software issue impacting its wireless network. The company reporting that some customers are having trouble connecting, but it's not a nationwide issue. Delayed again. For the second time, SpaceX scrubbing plans to launch the Polaris Dawn mission this time because of weather. Yesterday, takeoff was called off due to a helium leak. The weather is not expected to clear up tonight or tomorrow. So, now, it's unclear when they may launch.
And this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRAVIS KELCE, NFL PLAYER: Not even close. The Minnesota Vikings? (EXPLETIVE DELETED) was nobody on Twitter.
JASON KELCE, NFL PLAYER: Just another beat for the U.S. steel (ph) market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Travis and Jason Kelce, the brothers, NFL Super Bowl champs and now super successful podcasters. The duo's "New Heights" podcast, well, it just signed with Amazon for $100 million. The deal takes effect this month just in time for the NFL season. I love that one.
All right, record heat in the Midwest is coming to an end today. A cold front forecasted to bring severe storms across the region makes way toward the mid-Atlantic.
Let's get to meteorologist Allison Chinchar with more on this.
Allison, good morning.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Kasie.
You get lots of talk about here. Now, for some folks, we've finally going to start to see a reprieve from that heat. For others, you've still got one more day before we start to see those temperatures break. And you can see that here, basically anywhere you see this orange color, we're still going to have at least one more day, possibly two before those temperatures start to come back down.
Look at some of the numbers from yesterday, though, St. Louis topping out at 102, Chicago O'Hare and both Midway airports, 99 degrees, even portions of Ohio getting into those upper 90s.
Now the difference between yesterday and today, you're going to see that drop, Chicago again, going from 99 down to only at four today, much more tolerable. Cleveland going from 95 yesterday down to 83.
Now, the Northeast, it's a little bit of a different story. You're going to have to wait until tomorrow before we start to see those temperatures drop. So still expected to be 99 today in D.C., but tomorrow, we'll get drop about ten degrees below that, 92 again today for New York City, 96 in Philadelphia.
But those temperatures do finally start to come back once we get to tomorrow. And a part of the reason is because you've also got some storms in the area. It's going to allow for a lot of these areas to see some damaging winds and even some large hail, especially out in the northern plains, could be looking at golf ball size hail or even larger, but damaging winds going to be the main focus here along the Ohio Valley and especially into portions of the mid-Atlantic.
Look at some of the high wind speeds we had from yesterday.
[05:25:01]
Again, Detroit International Airport, 76 miles per hour. Other areas of Michigan, Missouri, and Illinois, also seeing some strong winds, and it brought some trees down.
Take a look at this video here. This from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Again, you can see trying to do with some of those trees. Again, makes sense when you saw some of those winds, Kasie, that we were looking at the 60 to 70-mile per hour range, more wins of that strength are expected for today.
HUNT: All right. Allison Chinchar for us this morning -- Allison, thank you so much.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING: Donald Trump facing a new superseding indictment from special counsel Jack Smith. We're going to take a look at Trump's latest effort to spin his legal trouble into campaign cash.
Plus, Kamala Harris getting ready for her first sit down interview since accepting the nomination for president. It will be with her vice presidential running mate, Tim Walz, and it'll be right here on CNN. We'll talk about what we might expect to hear from the vice president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): I think sometimes you all over exaggerate what the importance of it. She knows what she's going to have to do. She's going to have to spell out her vision and talk about policies and more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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