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Evidence Released in Trump Election Interference Case; Damage to Critical Infrastructure Hinders Hurricane Relief; 30 Million Under Heat Alerts in Western U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired October 03, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Thursday, October 3. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[06:00:06]
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They should have never allowed the information to be -- to come before the public.
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HUNT: Unsealed evidence. Donald Trump lashing out as fresh details from his 2020 election interference case are revealed.
Plus, supply chain panic. Nationwide fears of price hikes and shortages as the port strikes by tens of thousands of dockworkers marches on.
And then --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The response will be painful.
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HUNT: Beirut hit again as Israel vows to strike back at Iran. We're going to speak live with former Trump national security adviser John Bolton.
And --
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States, the nation, has your back.
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HUNT: Tackling Helene. President Biden deploys active-duty troops to help as the hurricane's death toll rises.
All right, 6 a.m. on the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Thursday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We're now getting our first look at never-before-seen evidence filed by special prosecutor Jack Smith in the 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump.
This includes the personal notes of then Vice President Mike Pence, who wrote five pages detailing an Oval Office meeting where Trump was pressuring Pence to take action just two days before January 6.
Those notes allege that Trump told Pence things like, quote, "When there's fraud, the rules get changed," end quote. Quote, "You can be bold," end quote, and that Pence had, quote, "the right to do whatever you want to do," end quote.
But the vice president rejected those plans and two days later oversaw the joint session of Congress to certify the election for Joe Biden, telling Trump that -- his plans in a phone call that morning.
While Pence was on Capitol Hill to do this, Trump was at the Ellipse outside the White House, launching what the special counsel calls, quote, "an indirect threat," end quote, against his vice president during a speech to his supporters.
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TRUMP: Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now, I'm not hearing good stories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: After Trump's speech ended, chaos took over Capitol Hill as Trump supporters stormed the building in what the special counsel called one last effort to delay the vote certification.
Back at the White House, the special counsel says Trump watched everything unfold in the Oval Office dining room. And while there by himself, sent a tweet which helped to fuel the riots. It was read in almost real time by a rioter with a bullhorn. Watch.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate one which they were asked to previously certify. The U.S. demands the truth."
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HUNT: One minute after that tweet was sent, Mike Pence -- you see him there -- was evacuated to a secure location. When told that his vice president was in danger, when he was sitting in the Oval Office dining room, Trump allegedly said back, quote, "So what?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel is here to talk about all the latest: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, CNN political analyst, White House reporter for "The New York Times"; Zach Cohen, CNN national security and justice reporter; Karen Finney, CNN political analyst, former spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's campaign; and Mike Dubke, former communications director for the Trump administration. Welcome to all of you.
Zach, I want to start with you just on the -- on the reporting. This is a 165-page indictment. We knew some of the broad strokes of this going in because of what we learned from the January 6th Committee. This obviously was the special counsel trying to distinguish here between private and official acts as the Supreme Court demanded.
What would you pull out for us as things that are going to be critical going forward?
ZACH COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really remarkable how Jack Smith tries to make the case, right, that Trump was acting as an office seeker, not an office holder, and basically says that the core fundamental parts of his original indictment still amount to crimes.
And that includes the fake elector plot, which he says in this new charging document, that Trump was personally briefed on and you know -- and warned about that it was outrageous and that it was crazy by people around him and still moved forward with it anyway.
And then, of course, Trump's interactions with people like Mike Pence, right? That's still a question as to whether or not that is covered by the Supreme Court's immunity ruling.
Jack Smith makes the case that they were acting as running mates, not as president and vice president. So that's how he's trying to get around the Supreme Court's immunity ruling.
[06:05:10]
And I think we've all kind of come to understand at this point how there is no love lost between Trump and Mike Pence, but this new evidence does really cast sort of Trump as dispassionate in his reaction when he's told that Mike Pence is being evacuated from the U.S. Capitol. And also, his interactions with his family members. He -- you know, allegedly telling his family members that it doesn't matter if he wins or loses the election, because --
HUNT: Because he'll fight like hell.
COHEN: Exactly, exactly.
HUNT: Right? What he told them?
COHEN: And that sort of encapsulates kind of the whole tone of this charging document.
HUNT: Yes. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, let's talk big picture here for a second, because obviously, this is coming down, you know, under 35 days to the election.
You have -- this morning, we're learning that Liz Cheney is going to be out on the campaign trail with Kamala Harris in Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party. She obviously is someone who staked her entire political life on what unfolded on January 6th.
What impact does this have on the campaign here at this late hour? Obviously, Trump's people are saying -- and I'm sure Mike will want to weigh in on this -- that the Justice Department shouldn't have done this. But I'm curious kind of how you think about this as you cover the campaign day in and day out.
ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. I mean, it's -- look, the Harris campaign and the Biden campaign before it, when they would talk about democracy as a theme in this election, they would often point to January 6th.
They would point to also the allies of the former president, who were trying to revise the history and the record of what happened on January 6.
And you had Democrats really trying to remind voters of that day and what the former president did not do. The amount of time that he spent in the White House seeing that riot unfold. And his statements leading up to that riot that encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol.
Something like this, that's not just sort of a politician attacking another politician, but is -- but are -- but are findings in a legal document that are going to continue to be talked about, are only going to fuel some of the criticism against the former president.
Just to your point, as well, when you talk about some of the descriptions in here, particularly about the former president and what's described in terms of his reaction to hearing that his then- vice president was in danger, that the Secret Service had -- was -- had to rush him off because some of the rioters outside were threatening him, I mean, the president -- the former president's reaction is described as saying, "So what?"
Something like that is only going to be talked about in these limited weeks we have and the remainder of the election. And remember, it comes right after a V.P. debate where one of the real sort of memorable moments was Tim Walz also pressing Vance and asking him whether the former president had lost the election. And he had a non- answer.
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, Kasie, the Justice Department shouldn't have done this. You're absolutely right.
HUNT: To be clear, I did not say that myself. I said the Trump campaign is speaking about that.
DUBKE: I know. I'm repeating what you thought I would say, and I'm saying it. But here's why. And I'm coming at this at a little different tack. I think the optics of this are bad, but I think they're bad for democracy.
Yes, we can talk about how they're bad for Donald Trump. But a lot of this is already baked in with Trump supporters. But what is -- what this can turn into, especially with Trump supporters, is then looking and going, OK, the fix is in.
Here's the -- here's the Biden-Harris administration one more time. They took -- they delayed, delayed, delayed bringing the case. And now we're at the final edge, and we've got a one-sided legal document with -- putting color on incidents we already knew happened. And it's one more, you know, thumb on the scale by the Biden-Harris administration.
That's what's bad about this -- this release.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: In part, it's been delayed because of all the efforts on the part of the Trump legal team to delay the case.
DUBKE: The starting date is delayed.
FINNEY: That's fine. But part of why we're hearing now, versus --
HUNT: Also frustrated with Merrick Garland, as well.
FINNEY: Party of why we're here now versus earlier this year is related to part of their legal strategy.
Look, I think what it does do, there are plenty of people who haven't been following the details as closely. I think the way I look at it in terms of the debate, it was a very powerful moment. You're right.
It's a reminder why Mike Pence was not the one on that stage. That's what it's a reminder of. It's a reminder the danger of actually being the running mate to this president.
There was a time in this country when he said it's not how you -- you know, if you win or lose. It's how you play the game. Not you fight, fight, fight as in you fight to the death, even if you've lost.
So, I do think for voters who are looking for a reason not to vote for Trump, this could be the -- a final sort of push to say, OK, no, I can't do this again.
HUNT: Zach, very briefly.
COHEN: Yes, it's really --
HUNT: Go ahead.
[06:10:01]
COHEN: Really important to point out the decision to release this was made by the judge in this case.
DUBKE: Right.
COHEN: Judge Chutkan, not the Justice Department.
DUBKE: I'm just repeating what Kasie's words were.
COHEN: Of course, of course. And Trump is, you know, directing his anger toward the Justice Department. But --
HUNT: Are we going to see more before the election on this?
COHEN: It's very possible there could be more evidence that comes out of this in the next couple days. So, we'll have to wait and see.
HUNT: All right. Zach Cohen, thank you very much for being with us this morning. I really appreciate your reporting.
The rest of the panel is coming back very shortly.
Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, President Biden will not step in to stop the dock workers' strike. That's despite growing concern about the port stoppages' impact on the supply chain.
Plus, explosions rock Beirut as Israel weighs a response to Iran. Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton joins us as we discuss how the White House should address the counter attacks.
And after debate night, the running mates return to the trail and the Midwestern nice is suddenly not so nice.
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[06:15:25]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you start to realize who the longshoremen are, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody cares about --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never gave a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about us until now, when they finally realized that the chain is being broke now. Cars won't come in. Food won't come in. Clothing won't come in. You know how many people depend on our jobs? Half the world. And it's
time for them, and time for Washington to put so much pressure on them to take care of us. Because we took care of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: There you have it. A port strike by some 50,000 dock workers across the East and Gulf Coast entering its third day this morning. A prolonged strike could impact banana shipments, new car deliveries, imported chocolate and alcohol, to name just a few.
And this has been prompting some people to return to COVID-era panic shopping amid fears of shortages. If it continues, the strike could cause price hikes in that critical last month before the November election.
President Biden warning about the strike's impact on hurricane relief efforts.
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BIDEN: This natural disaster is incredibly consequential. The last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster, what's going on at the ports. We're getting pushback already, and we're hearing from the folks regionally that they're having trouble getting product the need because of the port strike.
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HUNT: All right. Joining our panel now, Annie Linskey, reporter for The Wall Street Journal." Zolan and Karen and Mike are also still here.
Annie, let me start with you on this. I mean, the president, Democrats, Kamala Harris in a tough spot with this strike unfolding, because they really rely on, need labor support.
But at the same time, an economic downturn, 30 days -- is going to get hung around their necks.
ANNIE LINSKEY, REPORTER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Oh, absolutely. I mean, this union leader is picking a very good time to do this. He has sort of the maximum amount of leverage here.
One of the things I think is most interesting is that he has support not only on the Democratic side, but also the Republican side, even though Donald Trump has said supportive things, as well, and is already maneuvering to do exactly what you said and hang this around Kamala Harris and -- and Joe Biden's neck, for lack of a better way of saying it.
So, yes, I mean, they have the power at the moment. But I have to say, I cannot fathom that they're going to have this power for a lot longer. I do not think that Joe Biden can allow this strike to actually start hurting the economy. I think they've got a few days, a few more days perhaps. But the president, ultimately, I think -- HUNT: Zolan, what are the options for the president?
KANNO-YOUNGS: I mean, they're squeezed, here, right? The president could pursue action known as Taft-Hartley, which would basically say that the longshoremen need to go back to work for what's known as an 80-day cooling off period.
That doesn't sort of provide a solution to this labor dispute. You still theoretically, after that 80-day period, would have to have these guys during that time go back to the table.
HUNT: But the election is not 80 days away.
KANNO-YOUNGS: One hundred percent.
HUNT: The election is 33 days away.
KANNO-YOUNGS: In the meantime, he is squeezed, right? I mean, this takes two really competing pressures.
The president said that he will not pursue Taft-Hartley. And when I talked to White House officials and Democrats, one thing that's on the mind of them is also the crucial labor support unions in three crucial battleground states: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, right, Michigan.
You can't alienate those folks, which you would probably do by pursuing intervention like this.
At the same time, if this goes on for a couple of weeks, you may have also a return to what has been a political vulnerability for this White House, now for recent years. That being inflation and rising prices.
FINNEY: But I do think, given what we're seeing in Florida, in North Carolina, and parts of Georgia, this -- the devastation and the dire needs in those communities. That might provide a way to say, look guys, we have got to make sure that these communities have the basics to be able to clean themselves up and start to rebuild.
DUBKE: Not going to happen, not going to happen.
FINNEY: OK, well, I could have finished my thought, but you go ahead and interrupt.
DUBKE: George -- George -- George Bush.
FINNEY: Go ahead. Go ahead, please.
DUBKE: 2006, 11 days it took George Bush to invoke Taft-Hartley. I cannot imagine that Biden would -- the Biden-Harris administration would do it before then. You disagree?
FINNEY: No, please. No, no, please. Are you done? You got more?
DUBKE: No, no, I'm asking if you disagree. FINNEY: I'm just suggesting, possibly -- I'm just suggesting that
we're in a unique moment, given the devastation that we've seen. I do think it puts a different kind of pressure on the situation that did not exist before the storm hit.
HUNT: Well, it's certainly something, perhaps, that the president might argue if he were to do something like this --
FINNEY: Yes.
HUNT: -- over the objections of his allies in organized labor.
[06:20:01]
All right, still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast, the recovery process for communities is just beginning. CNN's Isabel -- Isabel Rosales followed FEMA as they've been working to try to help those communities in need. We'll show you some of what she saw.
Plus, former first lady Melania Trump reportedly sharing her feelings on reproductive rights, and they seem to be at odds with her husband's policies.
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HUNT: It's been nearly a week since Hurricane Helene made landfall in the U.S. And the extent of the storm's devastation, unfortunately, becoming clearer by the day.
At least 191 people are now confirmed dead. Many more are still missing. And damage to critical infrastructure has made relief efforts all the more difficult.
[06:25:00]
CNN's Isabel Rosales followed along with FEMA in North Carolina to capture the challenging conditions for first responders.
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ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rare and exclusive access. CNN guided up the Blue Ridge Mountains by one of FEMA's 24 deployed urban search-and-rescue teams.
We're deep in hard-hit Avery County, North Carolina.
ROSALES: Just collapsed over the side.
ROSALES (voice-over): Portions of Beech Mountain, a remote ski resort town, left unrecognizable by Helene's wrath.
ROSALES: Signs of more just like washed off there.
ROSALES (voice-over): These winding mountain roads made further difficult to navigate by obstacles. ROSALES: We are entering an area that's closed off to regular people.
Only first responders are allowed. And it is because it's so treacherous. We're seeing it for ourselves. Like, thick mud all over the place. Trees that are down. Portions of the road food has crumbled down.
So, I'm really concentrating here. This is difficult to drive.
ROSALES (voice-over): And even when debris and fallen trees are cleared by chainsaw and manpower to make way for rescuers, another major barrier.
ROSALES: A FEMA supervisor who's been on his cell phone, trying to get in touch with his team to figure out where they're at.
ROSALES (voice-over): Division group supervisor Colin Burress pulls us over.
ROSALES: Can't get a signal? We're seeing for ourselves everything that the governor has been talking about.
COLIN BURRESS, FEMA DIVISION GROUP SUPERVISOR: Right.
ROSALES: Issues they've been talking about the -- how big of a challenge communication is, not just for civilians, but you guys trying to do these rescue operations.
BURRESS: It is. You know, when you don't have cell service, email, texts, all of that, become the challenge, and it helps slow things down.
ROSALES (voice-over): Then by pure luck, a few of his men spot us.
ROSALES: They found him just out of the blue. So, this is great. We're being reunited. And here's the command post, right here.
ROSALES (voice-over): This 80-member FEMA team assisting the North Carolina National Guard, now on day six of rescuing survivors, stranded and cut off from help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Ethan's to find live people. And Rush (ph) is trained to find human remains.
ROSALES (voice-over): They huddle over maps.
JASON STUART, TASK FORCE LEADER, TENNESSEE TASK FORCE: Beech Mountain is kind of our priority.
ROSALES (voice-over): Working out the next day's urgent search.
ROSALES: How does this work? You guys are doing grids? I see this black -- black line right here.
STUART: Yes. Yes, it's just easier for us to keep up. So, we'll send squads. We'll say you know, get grid one or grid two, grid three, grid four. ROSALES (voice-over): Before sunset, we roll out.
ROSALES: We came up about three miles. But honestly, it feels like ten.
ROSALES (voice-over): Back down the mountain, a second look at what Helene laid to waste. Before we can make it down, another danger: getting through these torn and treacherous roads.
STUART: This is a special case. Typically, the road's washed out in a mountain atmosphere like this. You know, and hurricanes usually happen towards the coast.
But this is definitely more challenges for us I know we haven't faced before.
ROSALES (voice-over): Regardless, first responders across the state push on. More than 400 people rescued so far, says the governor's office.
But the work nowhere near done until all the missing are found.
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HUNT: That was our Isabel Rosales reporting.
Let's turn now to weather for today. The Southwest and West Coast experiencing historic heat. More than 30 million people under heat alerts across the region.
Let's get straight to meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek van Dam. Derek, good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Here it is, Kasie.
So, the area highlighted in this red and orange, that's the 30 million Americans under some sort of heat alert today. And it's just odd for the month of October to have this type of heat. So, we're breaking records, but it's also been this streak of heat that we've had over the past several months, which we'll highlight in just one moment.
But this is including places like San Francisco to Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Eastward towards Phoenix. And we highlight into Phoenix, because just yesterday you broke a decades-long record high temperature of 107. It actually reached 108 yesterday.
So, this puts 113 consecutive days where your temperature has risen above that 100-degree mark. So, that's really kind of contextualizing just how extreme the heat has been this year and how it remains.
And we don't see any real relief in sight for Phoenix. This is just one city, for example. But much of the Southwestern U.S. continues to bake under this abnormally warm October temperature.
Now, completely different story unfolding over the Eastern half of the U.S., where we're enjoying very autumn-like weather across the Northern portions of New England, where we're reaching peak fall colors. So, looking beautiful, and we'll enjoy the below average temperatures.
But there's the above-average weather that will continue over the Western U.S.
Not much in terms of weather, a sign from an area of disturbed weather across the Gulf of Mexico. We're lowering those chances of tropical development. But regardless, this will bring a lot of rain to Florida through the weekend and into early parts of next week -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you very much.
VAN DAM: All right.
HUNT: Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, the disaster tour across the Southeast continues. President Biden visiting two more states impacted by Hurricane Helene today.
Plus, more from special counsel Jack Smith's latest filing outlining never-before-seen evidence against Donald Trump in his 2020 election subversion case.
[06:30:00]
