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Donald Trump's Mug Shot Released After Surrendering in Georgia; Yevgeny Prigozhin Presumed Killed in Plane Crash Wednesday; CNN Investigates Final Moments of Prigozhin's Flight; U.S. to Start Training Ukrainians on F-16s in October; Firefighters Struggle to Contain Greek Wildfires; Millions of Americans Under Heat Alert; Prosecuting Donald Trump. Aired 10-10:45a ET

Aired August 25, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:45]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson live from Abu Dhabi for you. This is CONNECT THE WORLD.

Coming up this hour, Donald Trump turns his mug shot into a campaign rallying cry. The Kremlin denies involvement in the plane crash that

presumably killed Yevgeny Prigozhin. The United States will begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, and embattled Spanish football chief Luis

Rubiales refuses to resign.

He has an overwhelming lead in the U.S. Republican presidential race. And today Donald Trump also has a mug shot, an inmate number, and a new arena

to vent his anger over what is a fourth criminal indictment. This one of course for allegedly trying to overturn election results in the U.S. state

of Georgia. Required that the former president turned himself in at a jail in Atlanta.

Well, he quickly promoted the mug shot on his Truth Social media platform, and also with a return to Twitter, now on this X. His first post there

since getting banned after the January 6th insurrection.

Nick Valencia is outside the jail where that unprecedented booking happened on Thursday night.

Nick, walk us through what went down and what comes next.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, yesterday was one for the history books. Historic for all the wrong reasons. Former President Trump

arrived here by motorcade. He arrived here at the facility, and then was processed, fingerprinted, given a mug shot, and then released. And at the

end of it, about an hour after he was released, we had the first presidential mug shot or first mug shot from a president or former

president in the history of the United States.

Donald Trump has been called a lot of things in his lifetime. Businessmen, maybe mogul. President. Celebrity reality TV star. And now he could add

inmate to that list.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): A mug shot and inmate number P01135809 will forever be associated with the former president. Donald J. Trump was arrested on

state charges related to election subversion in Georgia Thursday. He was booked and released on bond at the Fulton County Jail.

The former president took to the right-wing network Newsmax to discuss his surrender.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It's terrible experience. I came in, I was treated very nicely, but it is what it is. I took a mug shot, which I

never heard the words mug shot that wasn't -- didn't teach me that at the Wharton School of Finance. And I have to go through a process of --

election interference.

VALENCIA: Ahead of his surrender, Trump agreed to a $200,000 bond, and other release conditions including not using social media to intimidate co-

defendants and witnesses in the case. This is the fourth criminal case filed against the former president this year.

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

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

TRUMP: This should never happen. If you challenged an election, you should be able to challenge an election. I thought the election was a rigged

election, a stolen election, and I should have every right to do that as you know.

VALENCIA: Trump shared his mug shot on his Truth Social and his X account, formerly known as Twitter, with the words "election interference" and

"never surrender" below it. It was his first tweet on X since January 8th, 2021, two days after the insurrection.

The former president was not the only high-profile person to surrender on Thursday. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrendered

himself to the Fulton County Jail. He's been charged with violating Georgia's RICO Act and soliciting a public officer to violate their oath.

He denies any wrongdoing.

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

VALENCIA: Just last week, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and 18 co-defendants with meddling in the 2020 Georgia

presidential election laws.

[10:05:08]

On Thursday the district attorney filed a motion requesting a trial date of October 23rd, 2023. That date was set after Kenneth Chesebro, the co-

defendant who is considered the architect of the fake electors plot, requested a speedy trial as his right. His trial is set to begin on that

date. Trump's attorneys say he opposes the proposed trial date.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: There's still two of the 19 co-defendants that have not turned themselves in. Kanye West-linked publicist Trevian Kutti as well as Pastor

Stephen Lee, both are charged with their efforts to intimidate Fulton County election workers. The clock is ticking for them to turn themselves

in. They have until noon Eastern Time today to do so, so just about two hours from now.

Meanwhile, October is the set trial date. We should expect a flurry of legal filings between now and then, and on Monday, former chief of staff

for the former president, Mark Meadows, has a federal court hearing. He's trying to get his criminal proceedings move from a state court to a federal

court, arguing that any federal worker who's charged with alleged crimes during their duties as a federal official, have the right to move their

criminal proceedings from state court to federal court -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, sir. Thank you.

Well, as the noon Eastern deadline approaches, the remaining defendants in the Georgia case to turn themselves in, stay up to date on our digital

platforms with live events reported of course as they happen. Including insightful analysis from my colleague Stephen Collinson. That is CNN.com on

your computer or through the CNN app on your phone.

Well, after the apparent death of Russia's most notorious mercenary, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin is rejecting speculation that it was

involved in Wednesday's plane crash in Russia. A Kremlin spokesperson says theories that it's responsible are a, quote, "absolute lie." Well, it comes

after Russian President Vladimir Putin had this to say about Prigozhin on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early '90s. He was a man of difficult

faith. And he made serious mistakes in life. And he achieved the results needed both for himself and when I asked him about it, for common cause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, all of this of course coming two months to the day after Wagner's group has failed mutiny against Russia's military leaders.

Our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is in St. Petersburg for us.

And that, of course, is where, as we understand it, Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin of course got to know each other back in the day. Tell us where you

are and what you're seeing there.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Becky, that's right. We're in St. Petersburg, we're in one of the suburbs of the city.

It's a city of five and a half million people, the second biggest in the country. And we're in a makeshift memorial that has sprung up outside the

official headquarters of the Wagner Organization, which is this building just behind me. It's where their operations were run from.

And people have been coming throughout the course of the past couple of days, laying flowers like these, roses, carnations, whatever. And

photographs, and little notes, and Wagner flags, and things like that, as a mark -- lighting candles a swell, as a mark of respect for Yevgeny

Prigozhin.

Because even though it hasn't been officially confirmed with absolute certainty that he's dead, obviously the expectation is and the

understanding is that he is at the moment. This is a Wagner badge from somebody's arm patch because, you know, a lot of the people who are coming

here are Wagner soldiers, who have been fighting with the mercenary. Families of those fighters as well.

But also just generally people who sympathize with what Yevgeny Prigozhin stood for, and what he had to say about the corruption in the Russian armed

forces. Here's a photograph here, a very recent one I think, and it says in Russian, in this hell he was the best, speaking about him in the past

tense.

Of course you can see all these flowers that have been laid, another photograph over there. What we've got here, if I can get down and pick it

up again, the sledgehammer that has become such a potent symbol of the extreme violence. It's very heavy. The extreme violence which Wagner had

been known for. Because it's with a hammer like that that they executed someone they regarded as a traitor, very gruesomely.

They videotaped it and that video footage really cemented the organization's image as a ruthless organization that would do anything that

they regarded would protect the motherland, Russia of course. And so, you know, it's violent, it's horrific, but it's also struck a chord with many

Russians.

[10:10:05]

And so one of the questions now is, you know, what will happen to Wagner. Will Yevgeny Prigozhin, if it's, you know, confirmed that he's dead, which

I think it probably will be, will he become a martyr and attract more people to this idea, this cause, this rebellious movement as it became in

the end, that he once led -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Just for context here because we've heard from President Putin now about this. They go back or they went back an awful long way to their

days in St. Petersburg. This is a man that Vladimir Putin has known for a very long time. What did you make of what he said about Yevgeny Prigozhin

last night?

CHANCE: It was very interesting, very short of course. I mean, he referred to the fact that he'd known Yevgeny Prigozhin since the 1990s, and it's

well-known to have developed a business relationship to do with catering. He ran a hotdog stand and then a restaurant that Putin used to go to a lot

in the '90s when he worked in the mayor's office here. But he also said he was somebody who made some serious mistakes.

Now of course he didn't refer directly to leading that uprising that became the biggest challenge to Vladimir Putin's authority in 23 years, but

clearly and a lot of Russians say this to me they believe that was of course Yevgeny Prigozhin's biggest mistake, leading a rebellion against the

Kremlin. He also talks about how he had a very hard faith, Yevgeny Prigozhin. That's often a euphemism in this country, for someone who served

time in prison or was an orphan, or someone like that, and of course Prigozhin served several years in prison during the Soviet period. So he

comes in that criminal past.

But a good businessman, a talented businessman I think is what Putin said. That's how he described someone who was formerly his friend in St.

Petersburg and someone who became, as I said, that major challenge to President Putin's authority.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. Matthew, thank you. Matthew is in St. Petersburg in Russia for you.

Well, there are still a lot of questions, a host of questions, about that ill-fated flight. Using an array of data and video evidence, CNN has

investigated the flight's final moments on Wednesday. Our investigative producer Katie Polglase takes us through what we know so far and how we

know it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER (voice-over): Falling from the sky, the plane reported to be carrying the Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Coming two months after he launched a mutiny against Russia's leader Vladimir Putin, he was widely seen as a man on borrowed time. As footage

started to emerge on social media of the crash, CNN's Open- Source team began piecing together what happened.

The aircraft associated with Prigozhin is RA02795. It makes frequent trips between Moscow and St. Petersburg. CNN geolocated the main crash site to

here. And you can see the same tail number visible amid the debris. The plane had left Moscow at 5.55 p.m. local time, 12 minutes later the

location is no longer detectable. But public flight tracking site Flight Radar 24 still receives information on its altitude.

(On-camera): The last minute of the recorded flight is key. You can see here the flight's altitude is erratic. It's going higher and lower before

it eventually plummets. Now aviation experts told us this is highly unusual and it suggests those on board were trying to stabilize the plane after

something happened to it. In other words, the disruption was not big enough to obliterate everyone and everything instantly.

(Voice-over): Expert opinion is split on what exactly happened, likely an explosion, perhaps a bomb on board or a missile hitting it, or even

something else. Whatever it was, was clearly powerful as the plane is visibly falling without a wing. The tail ends up over here, 2.6 kilometers

away from where the rest of the debris lands. Videos show fires at the crash site. Some are graphic. Human remains strewn amid the debris.

Since then Russian authorities have taken the bodies away for examination and began an investigation. But many have already made up their minds as to

who they think was behind the Wagner aircraft's violent end.

Katie Polglase, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, with the Wagner mercenary group without a leader, there is new speculation over the group's operations in Africa and those have been

extensive. This week a Russian military delegation went to the Libyan city of Benghazi. It met with the Libyan National Army, which is being supported

by Wagner for several years.

[10:15:01]

Russia says the visit aims at discussing joint actions like, and I quote them here, "cooperation in the field of combatting international

terrorism."

Well, meanwhile, on the ground in Ukraine, there are early signs of progress in this counteroffensive by the Ukrainians. It appears they have

penetrated the first line of Russian defenses and are now widening the breach along parts of the southern front lines in Zaporizhzhia. The

Ukrainian military says its forces are expanding a wedge in the direction of the strategic town of Tokmak.

Both sides describing tense fighting which appears to be concentrated at the south and east of the village of Robotyne. Ukrainians are trying to

expand recent advances after they said they had secured that town earlier this week.

Well, Ukrainian pilots will start cutting their teeth on F-16 fighter jets in the U.S. this October. The Pentagon says following this training they

will be learning to fly those jets at an airbase in Arizona which will run side by side with separate training led by Denmark and the Netherlands.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has the very latest from the Pentagon.

So finally the Ukrainians get what they've been asking for, for the last, what, 18 months. They've got to train these pilots up on these F-16s before

they can be operational in the skies over Ukraine. You're a pilot yourself. I'm not sure that you've flown fighter jets, but, you know, I know you

understand this sort of process of training well.

What goes into this and how many -- what's the time scale here? What's the schedule to ensure that these Ukrainian fighter pilots can get into these

jets and get them airborne?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Becky, on the timeline itself, I'll quote Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who said it won't

be shorter than six months. Even if these Ukrainian pilots have flown their Soviet-era fighter jets, even engaged in combat with the Russian air force

or Russian drones, there is still a tremendous process that it will take to learn to fly the F-16s.

And it's not just a function of learning how to take off, fly around and land. There are missions and a pilot has to be mission capable. And quite a

number of these to be signed off by an instructor saying, yes, you know how to operate the plane at its maximum capability in the air. And that process

will take time. Yesterday, DOD here said that the pilots would arrive next month to begin English training in Texas.

That's expecting to take several weeks. And then the F-16 training itself will begin in October. They're not putting a specific timeframe on it

because they know this could take a while. Not just because of the individual skill levels of the pilots themselves but also because of their

English level. And they need to be proficient enough, their English is at different levels, so they may have quite a bit to learn here.

In terms of what they will be learning, the Pentagon talked about that yesterday. All the missions they will have to be ready for, to be ready to

fight with this jet in the skies over Ukraine. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. PAT RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: They're going to teach you formation flying, basic fighter maneuvers, weapons employment. And this is

going to help you transition from being a, you know, basic pilot mindset to a fighter pilot mindset. There's going to be some type of ground training

involved. We've all seen the images of people going through a centrifuge training to learn how to cope with G-forces.

There will be additional training on your combat maneuvering, tactical intercepts, close air support, suppression of enemy air defenses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: And that's a big one, that last one, suppression of enemy air defenses because as we've seen Russia has a tremendous array of air

defenses in the war in Ukraine. As to why this announcement comes now, DOD says they looked to essentially at Europe's capacity to train F-16 pilots,

realized that it could or would be reached, and decided to move some of that to here or at least bring some of that here currently with the

training in the Denmark and the Netherlands are leading.

And Becky, to answer your first question, I have actually flown in an F-16 a couple of times. And I did get a little stick time so I have this much

personal experience in this.

ANDERSON: Wow. And I really didn't know that to be the case. Wow. Well, it's good to have you. Always good to have you, Oren. What a complicated

process this is.

LIEBERMANN: Absolutely.

ANDERSON: The Ukrainians will be absolutely delighted of course. They've been asking as I say for these since the beginning of the war, but this is

a long process at this point.

Thank you, sir.

Still to come on CONNECT THE WORLD. As wildfires rage in Greece, once again Greek police say they are making arrests. We'll have a live report from

Athens after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:54]

ANDERSON: A worst-case scenario just keeps getting worse for Greece. Greek police say they've made 79 arson related arrests. A strong winds have

caused a resurgence of wildfires. In the last 24 hours, more than 90 fires have erupted, including blazes that ripped through the mountains above

Athens. Now more than 200 wildfires have broken out since Monday, destroying thousands of hectares of land and killing at least 19 people.

Well, officials say this is Greece's worst recorded wildfire season in at least 20 years.

Let's bring in Eleni Giokos standing by in Athens.

And Eleni, just give us your sort of perspective if you will on the spread of these fires in the area that you are in, and also sort of away from

where you are.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we're here today, I showed you some of the destruction on Parnitha Mountain. We were able to come in to

see some of the virgin forest that is currently ablaze. We've been here for about four hours and this is still on the go. We're seeing aerial support,

we're seeing a lot of smoke, and we're seeing fresh fires that are erupting in various areas across from where we are right now.

The fire in Parnitha is still not under control. However, there is no risk of burning residential areas. You spoke about the 79 arrests in terms of

arson incidents, that has filled so much anger across Greece because, Becky, you've got climate change issues, you've got the wind that

exacerbates these types of events, and then you have the human element as well.

It has been a heroic effort by the people on the ground, the firefighters that work overnight, and then importantly what you see during the day in

terms of the aerial support.

ANDERSON: What do these forest fires mean for Greeks, Eleni?

GIOKOS: Yes. It's such an important question, Becky. We've told you these many times since we've been here, this is the lungs of Athens. When you see

forest fires at this sort of magnitude, you wonder what this means for the atmosphere. You're seeing billowing smoke everywhere. I've been barely able

to breathe in the last few days.

I caught up with (INAUDIBLE), he's a professor at the University of Athens, and he said those short-term effects, which we know could be flooding and

landslides. Long-term effects, you and I have been covering this, we've seen record temperatures across Europe. The frequency is going to increase.

Parnitha Mountain was a cooling point and note for the whole city of Athens. This means we're going to see a hotter Athens not only for the

people that live in Greece, but also the tourists that will be coming and of course in terms of the climate change issue.

It has just accelerated the impact that is going to be felt for many years to come, according to this professor. And there's no end in sight at this

point in time. I mean, speaking to the fire brigade, they tell me they have a long way ahead. Fires, hotspots, Becky, across Greece, Alexandroupolis,

still ablaze.

[10:25:02]

We're seeing fires here and other fires erupting in various parts of Greece. The E.U. says that this is the worst wildfire burning of land in

the whole of the E.U. since records began. 1.3 billion square meters is what they're estimating. The Greek government says it's too soon to

quantify the real damage. They're waiting for the season to end. The question is, how long will it take? And how many more resources will be

required?

ANDERSON: Well, Eleni, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, as Eleni mentioned, every summer is breaking record temperatures across the world and 2023, no exception. Let's now paint that hot picture

in numbers for you. Yesterday alone, there were 146 record temperatures in France. You heard that right. 146 record temperatures. And this is a

problem that knows no borders. In fact, because extreme heat can generate powerful storms, Europe as a whole recorded over 70 large hail storms and

received nearly 100 high wind reports.

Twenty-four hours later, the extreme weather continues as the level two out of three threat of severe winds and heavy rainfall has been issued from

eastern France all the way to central Poland.

Well, the heat baking millions of Americans and even a high-profile golf tournament, temperatures over 37 degrees Celsius forecast today to parts of

the Midwest and south. The city of Houston, Texas, already experiencing its hottest summer to date.

Now usually, people are urged to stay indoors. But that's not possible for, for example, spectators and players at a PGA event in Atlanta, Georgia.

That's where we find CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

It's good to have you out and experiencing this for yourself. You are an expert. You know, you do this all the time. Just put what we are

experiencing where you are, what the Europeans are going through, put it in context, if you will.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, this is the intersection of sports and extreme weather, right? Don't let this beautiful backdrop that you see

here at the PGA Tour Championship deceive you at home. The air is so thick you could literally almost cut it with a knife, right?

Atlanta, the East Lake Golf Course where this tournament is located in the state of Georgia in the United States, it just endured one of its warmest

nights ever. So when our body looks forward to cooling down, well, some people just don't have that opportunity without the use of air

conditioning. Temperatures today could rival records upwards of 41 degrees Celsius. That's the heat indices.

Now this is all part of the same heat wave that has gripped the nation over several hundred records broken this week. Chicago had a record yesterday of

38 degrees. Just incredible to see that kind of heat across the nation's midsection. It's so hot that the corn was sweating. Corn sweat. Google

that. That is a thing, right? Well, now we've got this intersection with a major sporting event, the pinnacle of the PGA Tour Championship, happening

where I'm at right now, and this tournament used to actually take place in November.

And believe me, the players here and the spectators wish that it still was in November. But it hasn't happened for several, several decades. It's

impossible to escape the heat here. I talked to the executive director of the tour championship, and he told me that he wants the players not to

focus on extreme heat being dehydrated. He wants them to slowly square their focus on that $18 million U.S. prize money that's up for grabs from

this particular tournament.

They have done so many heat mitigation efforts from cooling stations, sunscreen stations, multiple shaped tents, discounted water, you name it,

they've thought about it. And I actually, well, the press rather, had an opportunity to speak to the some of the golf pros to find out how they're

coping with the heat wave. They spoke to one of the local natives here from Georgia. He is a PGA pro. He is also the 2023 British Open Champion winner,

and you'd think that he'd have an advantage growing up with the heat here. Let's find out how he's coping with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN HARMAN, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: You would think it would be a little bit of an advantage, maybe the heat, being in so long, it's worn you down. I'm

not sure yet. It never seems to get easy to play in heat like this. The tour has done a really nice job with some amendments to the tee boxes, with

some cold towels and stuff. Some more hydration stuff.

We watched a lot more fans go down than players and caddies, so the fans that are coming out they need to be really careful because you can get a

lot of trouble out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN DAM: Becky, you've got to see this. I was talking about some of the heat mitigation efforts that the PGA and the tour championship are

instigating for the first time this year.

[10:30:06]

And what you're looking at right now is called a cool mitt. I've never seen this before in my life. When they were describing it to me yesterday I had

no idea this technology exists. This is available for all of the athletes, every three holes, on this tournament because it is so hot here. And they

put their hot hands in it like I have now and it literally cools your internal core body temperature by sending your cool blood right through the

body -- the core of your body.

And it brings down your internal core temperature to a safe level and actually helps and prevents people from getting heat exhaustion out of

here. So this is just absolutely incredible. It works. Take it from me, it's cool to the touch on the inside.

ANDERSON: Good stuff, Derek. Thank you very much indeed. Great to see you.

A lot more from the world of sport this hour, including the story that has the football world, really the wider world, talking. A defiant message from

Spain's football chief earlier after he was widely expected to resign. What he said and why is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back, I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD.

With the click of a camera, it immediately became one of the most iconic photos in the history of American politics. A mug shot of former U.S.

president Donald Trump who turned himself in on Thursday on a 13-count criminal indictment, charged with trying to overturn the results of the

2020 presidential election in Georgia. Now these charges include racketeering under the state's RICO statute, often associated with

prosecutions of organized crime.

Well, CNN's Stephen Collinson writes about the whole thing in his must-read "Meanwhile in America" newsletter, saying, and I quote him here, "For

future generations, such images define a chapter of national law when all the details have blurred together. The same will be true of Trump's mug

shot."

[10:35:02]

Well, I'm joined now by Republican strategist Doug Heye. And this really is a pivotal moment. Much described as a historic one. And it's certainly

that. But, you know, let's talk about the pivotal moment that we've seen. The Republican frontrunner for president in 2024, with his mug shot taken

and an inmate number.

Can you just describe for our viewers who may not be as up to scratch on American politics and history as you are, Doug, what this really means.

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it's certainly something that we've never seen before. We often, Becky, use the term unprecedented when it

comes to Donald Trump. This takes this three or four or maybe for more levels beyond that. And what we've seen is, as you mentioned, it's an image

that has gone around the world and did so immediately. And we've also seen that the Trump campaign is now selling basically mug shot T-shirts and

coffee mugs.

And, you know, your mug shot mugs and bumper stickers, and all kinds of things like that. The revolution must be merchandized and monetized if

you're Donald Trump because they feel that they can benefit politically from this. And this is also something that's really unprecedented. In any

race for mayor, senator, member of Congress, member of parliament, president, prime minister, whatever it may be, if you are indicted that's

bad news for you.

But Donald Trump views this as good news. And the reason that I say that is what did we see in the Republican debate earlier this week? When asked if

these Republican candidates would vote and support Donald Trump if he were convicted, most of them raised their hands. So Donald Trump feels that he

can get away with it within the law and that he can get away with it politically. And he might be right.

ANDERSON: Yes. And he's certainly using it, you know, as a campaign cry or rally. This is a man who's being charged with 91 felonies in four cases.

Many have decried the extent of this and said, you know, this is just going too far. What comes next for the Republican Party at this point?

HEYE: Well, I don't think anybody really knows yet. And part of that is going to depend on what happens legally with the trial. Part of that is

going to depend on what happens politically. If the primaries were all held this week, Donald Trump would win and he'd win overwhelmingly. Does that

maintain itself as we go through these coming months with the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary next year?

Right now I bet on it. Maybe that holds, maybe that doesn't. So we have that issue. Then we have the legal issue of whether or not something breaks

in this that causes Donald Trump to withdraw himself from running. And if so then it's a free-for-all, and I mean a free-for-all in actually a

positive sense, but no doubt about it. The Republican Party and the country here have been changed through this tumult that we've experienced over the

past six, seven years.

ANDERSON: Which is why we started this discussion by actually calling this a pivotal moment. It feels like we have moved into a new era at this point.

Call it unprecedented, call it historic, but it also feels like this is a pivotal moment in U.S. politics.

Thank you.

Well, many expected a resignation today from Spain's football chief. Instead, this.

What you are hearing there is cheers. What was effectively going on was a standing ovation followed by a defiant message. We'll hear a break down the

entire story that some say is right at the intersection of sports and sexism.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:06]

ANDERSON: Spain's football chief defiantly announcing that he will not resign. He has faced pressure to step down as controversy grows around him

forcefully kissing a player on the World Cup winning women's football team. Well, adding to all of this, earlier report suggested he would in fact

resign, which is obviously not how this is all playing out.

Andy Scholes, in the house with "WORLD SPORT" coming up after this short break.

And Andy, you know, ahead of that, I mean, a chaotic press conference and then this.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Becky, what we have been hearing the previous 24 hours was that Rubiales was in fact going to

resign, but when he stepped up to that podium, we've got the exact opposite. He doubled down. He said that kiss was mutual, and he said he's

not going anywhere. He's going to fight this to the end.

Obviously, you know, that is not what a lot of people in Spain wanted to hear, the reactions have been pouring in. Multiple people still calling for

his resignation. We're going to break it all down for you coming up here on "WORLD SPORT."

ANDERSON: Yes. He's talking about fake feminism. It's the biggest story out there. Thank you Andy. More on that coming up in "WORLD SPORT." Thank you.

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[10:45:00]

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