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Erin Burnett Outfront

Judge Grants Trump Request For Special Master In Docs Case; Biden Targets "MAGA Republicans" In 3rd Visit To Pennsylvania In A Week; Liz Truss About To Replace Boris Johnson As U.K.'s Prime Minister; New Video Shows Ukrainian Forces Shelling Bridge Used By Russians To Bring Troops Across River. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired September 05, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:33]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, Trump scores a legal victory, a federal judge accepting Trump's request for a special master to review evidence seized by the FBI during that search of Mar-a-Lago. It is a decision that will slow the DOJ's investigation, that is for sure. So what is the agency's next move?

Plus, President Biden on the trail and doubling down on his attacks on MAGA Republican lawmakers. His strategy, is it working ahead of the midterms?

And just in, one of the suspects in this deadly stabbing spree across Canada is found dead tonight. But now the search intensifies for his brother, wanted for his alleged role in killing ten and injuring 18 others.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening. Welcome to a special edition of OUTFRONT. I'm Poppy Harlow in tonight for Erin Burnett.

And, tonight, the Justice Department is plotting its next move after a federal judge sides with Donald Trump. The former president allowed to use a special master to sift through the more than 11,000 items and documents that the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago home. You'll remember last month.

This decision comes despite the DOJ arguing that it had already completed a review of potentially privileged documents. Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, citing several reasons for making this decision, writing that it will, quote, insure that at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under these extraordinary circumstances, she also cited what she calls, quote, swirling allegations of bias and media leaks.

Now, federal prosecutors also previously argued Trump could not claim executive privilege because the seized records belong to the government and not him. But Judge Cannon claimed Trump does retain some executive privileges, potentially, after leaving office. There's a lot to probe there legally, and now this decision will also lead to a major delay potentially in the Justice Department's case. Cannon ordering the DOJ to stop reviewing these materials from last

month's search until after the special master finishes their own review. That person hasn't even been appointed yet. And while Trump and some Republicans have been attacking the DOJ for searching Trump's home, others disagree.

Trump's former attorney general, Bill Barr, said authorities had a reason to go there. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: People say this was unprecedented. It's also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put it in a country club, okay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So let's begin with Evan Perez who is OUTFRONT live in Washington.

Evan, walk us through what's next. What happens next? There's a big deadline coming up on Friday.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. The immediate effect, of course, is that prosecutors and the investigators have to stop reviewing these documents. They can't use them as part of their investigation.

In the meantime, the director of national intelligence can continue their risk assessment of these documents that were recovered from Mar- a-Lago. I'll read you, however, what she's now laid out for this Friday deadline. She says that by Friday, the Justice Department and the Trump legal team have to come together and agree on a person that they can appoint to be the special master. They have to submit a list of potential candidates that they can choose from.

They also have to negotiate the duties and limitations of what this person is going to be doing. They're going to propose a schedule for this review, so we'll see whether it's weeks or months that this is going to take out, and they're also going to lay out how to pay for the special master who is going to be doing this work.

As you pointed out, Poppy, this person is going to be looking not only for the attorney/client privilege material potentially that is involved in these thousands of pages of documents that were retrieved by the FBI, but she's also saying this person is going to also review for executive privilege, which as you pointed out, the Justice Department and the current administration have said is not something that actually applies to the former president. We don't even know how this is going to work for this new person.

One of the things that was important in what she said in her ruling, she points out that it is in her view that there's been no compelling showing that there was callous disregard for the former president's constitutional rights, although she does point out that she believes there have been leaks and that's part of the reason why she's appointing a special master.

HARLOW: That is a core important thing to note, even though she ruled with the former president here, she did not agree with his contention that he had suffered any sort of constitutional violations at this point.

[19:05:02]

Evan, stay with us.

Let me also bring in Ryan Goodman, co-editor-in-chief of "Just Security", and former special counsel at the Defense Department.

Also with us tonight, Norm Eisen who was counsel to House Democrats during President Trump's impeachment trial and White House ethics formerly under President Obama.

Ryan, let's begin when we had you on previously, we were talking about this as the judge was deciding. You said there is some respects in which it would be reasonable to have a special master, but this goes beyond that in your opinion. Why?

RYAN GOODMAN, CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, JUST SECURITY: Yes, where think she could have been on solid ground beyond criticism, essentially, to say a special master should be established to look at any communications that are between the president and his attorneys, financial records potentially, medical records. Let's segregate those, set up a special master because we don't necessarily trust the FBI, just want an impartial third party.

HARLOW: And there were some tax documents and medical records in there.

GOODMAN: That's right, and that would be ordinary and appropriate potentially and certainly within her discretion. Where she does go is radically beyond that point. The idea that you would have a special master screening for executive privilege materials, never been done before in this country, and it doesn't also make sense because if it is material that is subject to executive privilege, it is a presidential record that has to be in the Archives.

She doesn't say, what happened if the special master says this is executive privilege, you would think Trump loses, not wins by it. It's hard to understand the logic or the legal basis for it.

HARLOW: So, Norm, the Justice Department argued if a special master is chosen and the probe is halted, which is what happened today, that could be a threat to national security. Judge Cannon in response said the classification review, the intelligence assessments going on by ODNI could continue and they will.

Does that make sense to you? Because what that sounds like to me is one part of executive privilege applies, to the same branch, and the other doesn't. And yet the two are supposed to work in tandem. Do I have it right? NORMAN EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Poppy, you're exactly right. It's

internally inconsistent. I mean, if you think about it, the judge's ruling under federal rule of criminal procedure 41, which is to get the document back, the documents back, are we actually in a world where these extremely dangerous to national security documents, ones that may have jeopardized lives, are going to be -- over 100 of them -- classified documents are possibly going to be reviewed by this special master for return to Donald Trump, at the same time as she says the danger is so grave, the judge says, the danger is so grave we have to let the intelligence community review continue?

I think that is an internal inconsistency. The law of executive privilege, as I explained in amicus brief for seven top Republicans who agreed with Bill Barr, that makes no sense, and there's much else that is respectfully not right about this order.

HARLOW: Evan, talk about the timeline here, because both sides can propose a special master. And then they have got -- the judge has to decide, how long do you get to go through all this, and you have midterms 64 days away.

PEREZ: Yeah, and look, that tends to be -- that tends to be during a period where the Justice Department doesn't speak, right? They are supposed to go quiet. No overt investigative steps that could be noticed by the public and could be interpreted as trying to influence the November election.

That's the quiet period that we're about to enter. But we also know, Poppy, from the court filings, that in Justice Department says that they're really early in this investigation. So there's a lot of stuff that the FBI still needs to do. They need to talk to witnesses, bring them before the grand jury. There's a number of things that are still really early in the process.

So we're talking about a delay potentially of weeks, perhaps months, that comes at the beginning of an investigation. And that's going to be a problem for DOJ potentially because we don't know how long this is going to take. You know, these types of investigations tend to take years, frankly.

HARLOW: So Ryan, you brought up what I find to be the most fascinating part of this judge's ruling, and the most perplexing as well. That's the question of executive privilege, which Judge Cannon says here is unsettled law. She points to an order by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, just recently, having to do with the house request for documents, Trump documents, having to do with January 6th.

Here's what the judge writes. Quote: The questions whether and in what circumstances a former president may obtain a court order preventing disclosure of privileges records from his tenure in office in the face of a determination by the incumbent president to waive the privilege are unprecedented and raise serious and substantial concerns.

[19:10:01]

That is from Justice Kavanaugh. She quotes it here and says this is unsettled law. Is it?

GOODMAN: She's right to an extent. In fact, the Supreme Court itself said that at the same time that Kavanaugh said it, that it's not yet fully understood where they're able to draw the lines on something like that.

But they're talking in the context of disclosures to Congress. She even kind of admits that in her opinion, Judge Cannon does.

HARLOW: Much different than this.

GOODMAN: Totally different. You can understand that's how executive privilege might play in that a former president has a role under the Presidential Records Act for that purpose of disclosure to Congress, maybe the courts, but not internal to the executive branch itself. I don't think Justice Kavanaugh would say something that extraordinary.

HARLOW: To the former executive.

GOODMAN: That's right, the former executive can't say to the incumbent, you can't have access to the classified documents we produced. You can't have access to our intelligence reports we produced in my tenure. As I say those words, you can see why that could never be the case.

HARLOW: Incredibly problematic.

GOODMAN: Yeah, of course, the intelligence community for example and the FBI rely on the information that was produced in the prior administration because even under Justice Kavanaugh's interpretation, that's a unitary executive all the way down. The idea you would use his theory to keep the executive branch from access to its own materials for an investigation or for the intelligence purposes is not what he's saying in that context.

HARLOW: So, Norm, now you're DOJ and thinking about what do we do, do we appeal? Especially, by the way, don't you almost have to appeal just on the point that Ryan just explained to us is so important for the courts to get right?

EISEN: Well, DOJ is privy to a lot of additional information that we don't have, Poppy, so I trust that they'll make the right decision on appeal. But you know, to those who say, well, won't an appeal slow things down?

Remember, the special master, if there's no appeal, is going to look at these documents, and the parties may not disagree. That will go to the judge. The judge will have to make decisions. Then that may go up on appeal.

So you're looking at some delay in any event. I do think that militates in favor of appeal.

HARLOW: So, Evan, as we wait to hear from DOJ and if they're going to appeal, I should note in this ruling the judge cited at least two instances in which these investigators were exposed to documents that were later designated potentially privileged material in terms of attorney/client privilege. She went on to write in part, quote, those instances alone even if entirely inadvertent, even if they were by mistake, yield questions about the adequacy of the filter review process.

I mean, that's really critical because the DOJ was saying we have a filter review, a taint team who went through this. There's -- you don't need a special master. She's saying, it might not have been done right?

PEREZ: Right, and so she is privy to a report that was presented by the Justice Department that is a report from this filter review team. This is the filter team that's been looking at these documents. And you know, she also cites, for instance, that there was seizure by the FBI of tax records and medical information that, you know, again, raises concerns for her.

But this does kind of show that the filter team is operating, that they have a process that they have outlined, that by the way, is overseen by a judge. So it's not clear to me what her quarrel is with that process. It's not entirely clear to me because we can't see what was in the report, right, and so we're kind of making a judgment.

But I think you're right. This is a bit of a gray area that is presented by the way she presents it.

HARLOW: Evan Perez, thanks for all the reporting, helping us understand. Ryan Goodman and Norm Eisen as well for your analysis.

Well, OUTFRONT next, former President Trump spending his time lashing out at the FBI after this search, still insisting the election be overturned. Is this helping or hurting Republicans running in the midterms?

Plus, just in, one of the two men wanted in the killings of ten people in Canada has been found dead tonight. Authorities there intensifying their manhunt for the second suspect and now U.S. authorities also on alert.

And dramatic new video tonight of Ukraine's counteroffensive hitting a bridge tonight used by Russian forces. We'll take you live to Ukraine for the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:00]

HARLOW: Tonight, President Biden just moments ago wrapping up a set of Labor Day speeches in two key battleground states, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. His third trip to the commonwealth, by the way, in just the last week. Biden touting recent legislative wins and also continuing to call out, quote, MAGA Republican lawmakers and, quote, extreme views ahead of the midterms.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, and division. But together, we can and we must choose a different path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: OUTFRONT tonight, Bakari Sellers, CNN political commentator and former South Carolina Democratic representative, and David Urban, CNN political commentator and former Trump campaign senior adviser.

Great to have you both.

Bakari, let me start with you. What we just heard from Biden, we have heard a lot of it recently in key states. Do you think contrasting his legislative victories with, quote, extremism from former President Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress is the best message 64 days out of the midterms to continually focus on that?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it is combined. I think one of the things that Joe Biden has to do is continue to give people a reason to vote for him. And that reason is those legislative victories, but the contrast with not all Republicans, you saw every Republican under the sun come out here with this talking point that he's lambasting and ridiculing half of the country. He's not. Most of the individuals who I talk to, most of the Republicans I served with don't even consider themselves to be MAGA Republicans. He's talking about this faction driving the debate and which is actually the loudest in the Republican Party.

And so, by talking about his accomplishments and his contrast, what you see is Joe Biden got his swagger back, and that is what we have been waiting on for the last year and a half.

HARLOW: David Urban, did he get it back?

DAVID URBBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Bakari, keep telling yourself that. We'll see. Listen, there good part about elections is we wake up the next day and hopefully we can look at the scorecard and see what's what. Listen, I think the president is, you know, it's a dangerous thing.

[19:20:01]

I notice he's narrowed the focus. He's not talking about all MAGA Republicans -- not all Republicans now. It's only MAGA Republicans. It's only MAGA Republican lawmakers.

You know, as I mentioned, I have just been back home in western Pennsylvania for my 40th high school reunion. A lot of MAGA Republicans there. I don't think they -- I don't think they see themselves as a threat to democracy, right? These folks who are grandparents and parents. They're patriots.

And, listen, if the president wants to throw stones at certain Republicans in Congress, he's free to do so. If he wants to throw stones at the 903 people who are charged with crimes for storming the Capitol on January 6th, he's free to do so. It's good standing.

But listen, I wish Donald Trump would stop talking about Donald Trump and start talking about his accomplishments versus Joe Biden's accomplishments. If that's what we were litigating this election on, I think Republicans would win on a landslide and I like to see more of it.

HARLOW: So, let's talk about that. Trump went to Pennsylvania over the weekend to campaign, right, for others, for his hand-picked Republican nominees for governor and for U.S. Senate. But like David's referring to, he spent a lot of the time talking about himself, complaining bitterly about the FBI, just listen to one bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters, controlled by radical left scoundrels, lawyers, and the media who tell them what to do, you people right there, and when to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Does it alienate general election voters in Pennsylvania or does it have the reverse effect, Bakari?.

SELLERS: Well, first, to David's point, we have already litigated Trump's accomplishments versus Joe Biden's accomplishments and Joe Biden got 80 million votes. That was called 2020 election. I would love to see Donald Trump on the campaign trail. There's no greater surrogate for Democrats than Donald Trump.

Every time Donald Trump opens his mouth and talks about himself, he is just alienating those voters. Look, 20 percent of the country is far left, 20 percent of the country is far right. It's those voters in the middle which determine elections. Most people will agree with that.

And the message of I, I, I, me, me, me, I'm just aggrieved former president, is not going to sell with these individuals because they have seen the facts of his behavior come through, and people don't view it that way, and even if they do, they're exhausted and tired of talking about it.

HARLOW: But Biden's talking about it more and more, Bakari, no?

SELLERS: Oh, no doubt about it. And he's going to keep talking about it as much as the president continues to show his head. It's very difficult to hit an opponent who disappears. If he withdrew from the campaign trail, if he was quiet, if he didn't have a federal investigation, ain't many talking points to talk about.

But he keeps popping up. It's like whack-a-Trump.

HARLOW: Let's not talk about whacking anyone.

David?

URBAN: Not surprising I disagree with Bakari, right? In the 2020 election, Joe Biden ran on this touchy-feely, I'm going to reunite America. He didn't have a record. Remember, he was a vice president for a very successful president.

HARLOW: Senator for many years, but I hear you.

URBAN: OK. Right, and so he ran a great uniter. I'm going to bring the country together.

Again, I wish this fall election would focus on lowest unemployment in the history of the state of Pennsylvania. Lowest Black unemployment in the state of the history of Pennsylvania. Job creation like you have never seen under the Trump administration, right/

I'd like to see those fleshed out in the campaign trail. I would like to see John Fetterman have to address those things against Mehmet Oz in a debate. Those are the things I think Pennsylvanians like to hear, not rhetoric from either the sitting president or the former president. Let's talk about the issues. I think Republicans win every day.

HARLOW: Bakari, David, thanks. Always a pleasure, guys.

URBAN: Thank you.

BAKARI: Thank you. Happy Labor Day.

HARLOW: Happy Labor Day.

OUTFRONT next, just in, one of the suspects in this wave of deadly stabbings in Canada has just been found dead. Now a huge manhunt is under way for the other alleged killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now I'm terrified to go to sleep at night, terrified to open my door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Also, meet the woman about to become one of the world's most powerful leaders.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:28:41]

HARLOW: New tonight, one of the suspects in a spree of stabbings across Canada has been found dead. Police say the body of 31-year-old Damien Sanderson was found at the James Smith Cree Nation today, where many of the ten killings took place. Now, the search for his mother, Myles Sanderson, has intensified. Police are warning he's considered armed and dangerous and are warning citizens to be vigilant until he's found. Our Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At least ten people are dead, 18 others injured, at least 13 crime scenes across a remote indigenous reserve and beyond.

Two suspects, brothers Myles and Damien Sanderson. Then late this morning, Damien was found dead on the reserve, Myles possibly injured, still on the run.

RHONDA BLACKMORE, ASST. COMMISSIONER, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: We consider him armed and dangerous. Do not approach him.

WATT: This woman says her elderly neighbor is among those murdered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, I'm terrified to go to sleep at night, terrified to open my door.

BLACKMORE: We are undertaking every effort to locate them as quickly as possible, to insure the safety of the public.

WATT: Five-forty a.m. Sunday, the first call came in. A stabbing on the James Smith Cree nation, within minutes, more calls. More stabbings.

[19:30:01]

Seven-fifty-seven a.m., authorities release photographs of the Sanderson brothers, both named by those callers.

Eight-twenty a.m., a dangerous persons alert is extended across all of Saskatchewan, both brothers believed to be on the move in a black Nissan Rogue.

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Priority is keeping you and your loved ones safe, so please be careful.

WATT: Nine-forty-five a.m., a victim is found outside the reserve, in a nearby town of Weldon.

Eleven-forty-five a.m., that Black Nissan reportedly spotted nearly 200 miles to the south, in Regina, Saskatchewan's capital city.

CHIEF EVAN BRAY, REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN POLICE SERVICE: We are very confident that Myles was in the city yesterday. Up until two hours ago, we assumed that it was both of them. But having said that, we are confident that there were two people in that vehicle. And so, at this point, we don't know who else was in the vehicle.

WATT: All this death and damage done apparently by blades. Not bullets.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: In cases where it's not easy, countries where it's not very easy to get guns, we have seen stabbings before. We have seen them in Europe and other areas. So that might be one explanation.

WATT: Sympathy and solidarity from Canada's Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and this is the destruction we face when harmful, illegal drugs invade our communities. No comment on a possible drug connection from the police.

RHONDA BLACKMORE, ASST. COMMISSIONER, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: It appears that some of the victims may have been targeted and some may be random. So to speak to a motive would be extremely difficult at this point in time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Nick Watt joins us now. Thank you for that reporting.

What are the police saying right now about how Damien Sanderson died?

WATT: Well, Poppy, they are saying that his injuries are visible injuries. They do not believe that they are self-inflicted at this point. And they are, of course, investigating the possibility that Damien Sanderson was killed by his brother, Myles. Now, Myles, they say, is injured. That is important because he may be going somewhere to seek medical attention, so they're asking people to keep an eye out on that. He right now faces three counts already, three counts of first degree murder, but the manhunt for Myles Sanderson goes on -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Nick Watt live for us tonight, thanks very much.

OUTFRONT now, Chris Swecker, former assistant FBI director. He oversaw the FBI's five-year manhunt for the Olympic park bomber.

Chris, thanks very much for being with us. I mean, Nick's reporting just laid it out. Damian Sanderson is found dead. He has injuries that are not believed to be self-inflicted, which raises so many questions. His brother Myles still on the run. Police say he could also be injured.

What comes to mind? What are the biggest questions in your mind when you hear all of that?

CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER ASSISTANT FBI DIRECTOR, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION: Well, first and foremost, there's a very dangerous person on the loose here. The sheer brutality of this crime, this crime spree, if you will, not a lot of detail about exactly what the venues are or where the crime scenes are, but it appears he went door to door and just started, both of them started slashing people and killing.

That's what sticks out, is there doesn't seem -- they're not talking about a motive at this point, but some of the victims may have been targeted, but it appears in other cases they're killing for the sheer joy of killing. And that is what makes them so dangerous.

I think this case is going to be solved or at least the arrest is going to take place based on tips from the public because they don't seem to have any new leads since the sighting of the vehicle. HARLOW: Right, and that's a great point, that police have essentially

said their only major lead is now a day old. They believe Myles Sanderson was in a black SUV spotted almost four hours south of the stabbing scene on Sunday afternoon. When you have a key lead that old, how much harder does it make it to find someone?

SWECKER: Extremely difficult. Particularly if they know that their pictures are out there. He's likely to go underground. Just as likely that he would do a carjacking or a home invasion and just stay put for the time being. You know, I think we also have to consider the possibility that some of these victims fought back. The fact that the one brother, of course, is dead and the other is injured tells me that some of the victims fought back.

I don't know where they're getting the information that one brother may have killed the other. That doesn't seem as plausible to me. Also, we know there are some very explicit eyewitness accounts because one brother is charged with three murders, the other with one. And that suggests that somebody parsed out exactly who did what.

HARLOW: The numbers are just so shocking.

[19:35:02]

Ten people killed in this way, 18 others injured. And police said in that press conference tonight that they have a wide range of ages, right? The youngest in their very early 20s, and they believe all of them, again, were stabbed, not shot.

I just wonder what that tells you or what questions it raises to you about any motive and the people who they believe carried this out?

SWECKER: It seems personal to me. The choice of knives and blades and the manual struggle of killing people with knives just seems very personal. Some of the Cree Nation leaders are saying this has to do with drugs. Some people were targeted specifically, maybe there are grudges.

I guess at this point, the motive is secondary to just getting this person in custody. All that can be -- all the evidence of that can be parsed out later. I think all resources, all hands are on deck trying to find this one person. I would say just based on 40 years of experience that he's underground right now, not moving about.

HARLOW: And as you said, some targeted and some killed randomly. It is a frantic search tonight. That is for sure. Chris, thank you very much.

SWECKER: Thank you.

HARLOW: OUTFRONT next, after months of high profile scandals, UK is about to have a new prime minister, after Boris Johnson is out. So we'll talk about Liz Truss and what is she promising for the United Kingdom tonight.

Plus, Ukraine's forces launching a major ground operation that is said to be pushing Russian forces back. We'll take you live to southern Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:37]

HARLOW: Just hours from now, Great Britain will have a new prime minister. Liz Truss will formally replace Boris Johnson tomorrow when the two meet with Queen Elizabeth. Truss takes over as the UK grapples with surging food and energy prices.

Scott McLean is OUTFRON.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the third time in history, a woman will take the reins of the British government.

LIZ TRUSS, INCOMING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver. And we --

MCLEAN: Liz Truss promised to cut taxes, grow the economy, and deliver a plan to tackle soaring energy costs.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted his support, calling her victory decisive. But with just 57 percent of the votes, Truss' first challenge will be uniting her party. Notoriously gaffe prone --

TRUSS: We import two-thirds of our cheese. That is a disgrace.

MCLEAN: The foreign secretary confessed she is not very diplomatic.

MODERATOR: President Macron, friend or foe?

TRUSS: The jury is out.

MCLEAN: But the French president was one of several world leaders sending warm words of support.

EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): I say welcome to Liz Truss. I express France's congratulations to her, and we're available to work as, as it were, allies and friends.

MCLEAN: One of two candidates selected by Tory lawmakers after Johnson was forced to resign following one too many scandals, Truss was ultimately chosen by less than one half of 1 percent of the British electorate, a sliver of the conservative base, an older, whiter, and wealthier than the average voter.

She promised to take a hard line on immigration and cut taxes, appealing to the membership of a party now drifting further to the right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she fault a good campaign and I'm not surprised she's been voted in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it make me feel warm and cuddly and soft all over? Not really because nothing will change.

CHELSEA DUFF, WAITRESS FROM BARNSLEY, 28: She said she's going to help energy costs, living costs. That's what we need.

MCLEAN: Truss has been dealt a tough hand -- war in Europe, a biting cost of living crisis, and a country bracing for a winter of potential blackouts and fuel poverty. British public is hoping she can rise to the challenge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Scott McLean joins me live outside of parliament in London. Let's talk about that challenge. We just heard it from people right there, the cost of living.

How will she address this?

MCLEAN: Yeah. So, Poppy, look, you have soaring inflation. You have household energy costs which have almost tripled in just the past year, and yet you have Liz Truss who said a month ago there would be no handouts to help with that rising cost of energy bills, which now make up more than 10 percent of the average after tax household income in this country. Instead, Liz Truss wants to cut taxes and boost domestic energy protection, but neither of those are going to help very much in the short term.

Liz Truss won over conservative party members by sticking to conservative ideology, put the rest of the country here wants to knee if she can be pragmatic. She is promising to announce a plan to deal with rising energy costs in the next week, but what exactly that entails is still a big question mark.

HARLOW: Yeah, and the promises that were made to folks just recently under Johnson in terms of what they'll get to deal with prices. We'll see. Thanks very much, Scott, in London tonight.

Well, OUTFRONT next, we'll take you live to Ukraine where forces are stepping up their attacks on the Russians, hitting a key bridge used by Russian soldiers to transport them.

Also, first look at a CNN special report, the multi-billion dollar fertility business millions of parents have relied on reproductive technology, but there are tragic stories you have probably never heard about until tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:15]

HARLOW: Tonight, new video shows that Ukraine is ramping up that counteroffensive there in the south. Ukrainian forces shelling a bridge used to move Russian soldiers across the river. This comes as pro-Kremlin officials now say that they're postponing a referendum in the key southern Ukrainian town of Kherson to join Russia.

Sam Kiley is OUTFRONT tonight live from Odesa, Ukraine. Sam, thank you very much for being with us tonight.

President Zelenskyy claims Ukrainian forces are making progress in taking back land in the south, and then you see what those forces just did to that bridge, so key to the Russians. What else is he saying?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ukrainian intelligence are taking the credit for what they say is a covert operation that blew up the electoral center for the so-called referendum in Kherson. That's a city, the only regional city that has fallen to Russian hands in the whole of this more than six-month campaign now, during a counteroffensive to recapture that city.

And as you say, you have seen this latest rocket strikes against that very important bridge. That is the main supply route for the Russians on the other side, effectively on the side I'm on here, this side of the river, Dnipro, to support the occupying forces in Kherson and beyond.

So, very important strategic site. It's been attacks several times in the past. Mainly the Russians are now having to rely on barges to resupply their troops. The Ukrainian hope is they'll be able to capture more and more villages and press tighter and tighter in against Kherson. Today, officials, military officials in the south behind this southern counteroffensive are saying to the citizens of Kherson to get down below ground, start stockpiling water, charge phones, carry power banks and so on, in order to prepare for what could be an assault on the city.

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And, of course, what the Ukrainians are desperately trying to avoid is the kind of siege of a city that is full, heavily populated by Ukrainian citizens they're trying to liberate.

HARLOW: Sam, before you go, there are these reports that Russian shelling caused a fire at the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. That's the one we've been talking so much about in Zaporizhzhia, forcing to cut it off from power yet again completely. What can you tell us about that tonight?

KILEY: Well, it's a very important development, and the fact that it's happened three times in about ten days is extremely worrying. On this occasion, it is the first time that it's happened with U.N. monitors on the ground. There are two semi-permanent U.N. monitors on the ground who have been trying to establish who is responsible for these attacks.

Now, the Ukrainians blame the Russians. The Russians blame the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians are saying that the power line was cut in order to carry out repairs and to put out fires caused by Russian shelling. But we haven't yet heard from the U.N. as to whodunit if you like, and that is going to very important development. This week, they'll likely to produce their preliminary report, Poppy.

HARLOW: The largest nuclear power plant in Europe and you've got IAEA inspectors there right now.

Sam Kiley, live in Odesa tonight, thank you very much.

OUTFRONT next, a first look at a CNN special report. The billion dollar baby business and the crucial information that is actually kept secret from so many couples, next.

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HARLOW: Tonight, a closer look at the multi-billion dollar fertility business. The CDC reports an estimated 1 in 6 couples without children are infertile and the use of assisted reproductive technology has doubled in the past decade. It is the subject of CNN's special report "The Baby Business" by our very own anchor Alisyn Camerota. It airs tonight.

And in it, she speaks to one family who used a sperm donor in the '90s after the tragic loss of their son in 2020. They reached out to other family who's had used that same donor and soon discovered the shocking truth about his medical history. Watch.

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Laura connected with other parents who had used donor 1558, offering to share Stephen's story with those who were interested.

The Gunners would ultimately learn that their son shared a donor with at least 19 other siblings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They had already been communicating about issues they had concerns about regarding their children. And they kind of connected the dots with each other long before we did.

CAMEROTA: More than a year after their son's death, the gunners learned shocking details about donor 1558. He had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He had also been in a mental institution before he ever donated sperm, and he had also died of an opioid overdose at the age of 46.

Basically, the medical records that you were relying on were not true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were completely not true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were totally not true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is no mechanism to check what the donor writes down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an honor system.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's an honor system. None of that information has ever been verified to be true.

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HARLOW: I had no idea. I bet most people didn't.

Alisyn Camerota is OUTFRONT now.

Thank you for doing this. Let's begin with if there's any way for parents like that on the front end to verify these records.

CAMEROTA: You'd think that there would be, but I too was stunned to learn how little regulation there is. The only thing the FDA requires is that the sperm be frozen for six months before use and checked for sexually transmitted diseases. That's it. And everything else that is related to the sperm donor's medical history is self-reported, which is obviously ripe for taking liberties.

I mean, we've all heard the stories of, you know, donors claiming to be Harvard-educated and star athletes, et cetera.

HARLOW: Sure.

CAMEROTA: And so, it's just that sperm banks now tell us in our reporting that what they're relying on is social media.

HARLOW: So a doctor doesn't have to verify my patient, a sperm donor, this is all accurate?

CAMEROTA: No, they're not doing that. Obviously that would cost more money.

HARLOW: Fine, but these are children's lives.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. We're talking about life. We're talking about chronic diseases.

HARLOW: Yeah.

CAMEROTA: Things that all of the donor families want to know. And so just checking on social media to say basically, oh, is he wearing a Harvard sweatshirt? Do we see him on campus? That's their level.

HARLOW: So that was then. What about now? I just wonder has much changed in the past few decades? New laws being passed?

CAMEROTA: The Gunners you just met, that family are trying. They're trying to pass a federal law and a state law in New York. David Gunner, the dad there, who they were so heartbroken when they learned all of this about their son, Stephen, he says that we know more about the ingredients in our bag of potato chips. That is more regulated in terms of the package having to stipulate what's in it than we do about the components that go into making children.

Now, of course, critics say that the more regulation, as I said, the higher the cost as well as it can scare off some donors that, you know, we want to allow families to create their own families. But right now there is just very little regulation for how to do that. HARLOW: You're right to bring up cost because my initial instinct

was, well, but whatever it takes. But the fact is this is cost prohibitive already for so many families, so you don't want to add to that. That's a real concern as well.

CAMEROTA: That's a problem.

HARLOW: Thank you, Alisyn. I can't wait to watch it tonight as soon as I get home.

Don't miss it. CNN's special report, "The Baby Business". It is tonight, 9:00 Eastern, right here.

Thank you so much for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.