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Today: Trump Surrenders To Face Federal Charges; Ramped-Up Security In Miami For Trump Arraignment. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 13, 2023 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:33:44]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And welcome back to our special live coverage. Former President Donald Trump due to arrive at the Miami Courthouse within the next hour and a half here, two hours. He's going to face a judge for the first time since federal prosecutors brought that 37 count indictment against him.

Now, Trump is expected to plead not guilty on all counts that he mishandled classified documents, engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. Disseminated and shared those documents with national security implications.

We should be clear that there is no president in American history who has ever been in this position, ever been done these sorts of things and ever faced these charges. And Trump has just spoken out in a series of social media posts.

Our Kristen Holmes is live near Trump's golf club where he will be tonight hosting a fundraiser. And Kristen, of course, he's going to, you know, his own social media to speak out here ahead of the arraignment. What's he saying?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, what is he not saying? I mean, we're hearing him call this a witch hunt. He's calling it an election interference. He's going after Jack Smith personally, and one of them, he says, "This is the thug overturned consistently and unanimously in big cases that Biden and his corrupt injustice department stuck on me. He's a radical right lunatic and Trump hater, as are all his friends and family, who probably, quote, "planted" information in the, quote, "boxes" given to them. They taint everything they touch, including this country, which is rapidly going to hell".

[12:35:08]

Now even, he couldn't go as far as to say that they actually planted information, which there is absolutely no indication of any impropriety so far. And we know that they have alleged prosecutorial misconduct, but yet have not given us any examples of what that is despite asking them multiple times.

Now, this is the kind of rhetoric, the kind of language we are expecting to hear from the former president tonight. When he takes that stage in Bedminster, and he will be urged on, cheered on by some of his most loyal supporters. It's going to be his high-dollar donors, supporters, club patrons, the same exact energy that we see at all of these events that he holds, including down at Mar-a-Lago.

And the other thing here to point out is this relationship with the high-dollar donors. I talked to a source just a second ago who said that there is. Some concern. We've already seen defections from some of these major high-profile donors from the Trump campaign this cycle. There's concerned as these indictments, if these indictments continue to mount, that they're going to see more of that.

So he's really hoping to hold on to the high-dollar donors that he has. I will note, though, Trump's team says they maintain that their best donations come from small dollar donations, but again, they're holding this fundraiser here at Bedminster, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Kristen, thank you very much.

As Kristen saying no evidence of any impropriety. I mean sometimes it's like you just got to call things out, right? They have on tape, they have him showing documents of military operation and sharing them with people, right? Those are the documents that he has alleged to have that they lay out, right? And now he's trying to sort of feed into the minds of his most fervent supporters and somehow things were planted.

Some of these things are just, you know, appalling at a level. You just got to speak the truth. Well, Republicans remain divided on the response to Trump's federal indictment. When we come back, we're going to speak to a GOP congressman, who is also a formal federal prosecutor to get his take.

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[12:41:36]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: As the former president prepares for his second court appearance as a criminal defendant, it is clear that his staunch allies are going to continue to stand behind him, even making what most experts call specious legal arguments, an attempt to defend his alleged actions.

I want to get reaction now from a conservative lawmaker who has not yet spoken out on this indictment, Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado, a member of the Freedom Caucus. And you are also a former federal prosecutor. You've worked at DOJ for 15 years?

REP. KEN BUCK (R), COLORADO: Three years at DOJ and 12 at the U.S. Attorney's Office. Yes.

BASH: OK. So given that background as a federal prosecutor, you've likely seen a lot of indictments. What's your reaction to this one?

BUCK: Well, I think the allegations are very serious. I think there were national security implications from having documents in an unsecure area. I think that the the prosecutor really went into a lot of detail to explain to the American public why it was necessary to indict a former president.

BASH: I want to read to you something that actually a few quotes from some of your colleagues on Capitol Hill. Speaker McCarthy said the indictment was, quote, brazen weaponization of power. Majority Leader Scalise called it a sham indictment. Majority Whip Emer said it was the ultimate abuse of power. What do you think about that?

BUCK: I think there's a problem that we have with this particular case, those of us that are on the right and that is, is there equal treatment under the law? There's no doubt in my mind that there are allegations of criminal conduct. I'm not going to say that he committed a crime until he is convicted of committing a crime.

But I do think that there were allegations of criminal conduct in other situations where crimes -- where charges could have been brought against Hillary Clinton and others. That doesn't excuse this conduct, but it certainly raises questions about equal treatment under the law. That's my only concern here.

I think this case will go forward, and the results will speak for themselves. But we still need to explain to the American public why is it that there's an apparent disparate impact.

BASH: Well -- and let's -- I understand that point, and that's what we're hearing from a lot of Republicans. But let's say on this case --

BUCK: Sure.

BASH: -- because he's going to be arraigned -- arrested and arraigned momentarily. The former president just posted on his social media, Truth Social, about Jack Smith, the special counsel, saying, "He's a radical right lunatic and a Trump hater, as are all his friends and family who probably, quote unquote, "planted" information in the boxes, quote unquote, "boxes" given to them. They taint everything they touch, including our country". Is that appropriate?

BUCK: Well, we're going to find out if it's appropriate. I'm sure that's part of the defense, and the FBI is going to have the burden of showing a chain of custody for all of this evidence. I think it's very unlikely that when the FBI is involved in a high profile case like this, that they didn't dot every i and cross every t in making sure that they have that chain of custody that they can show exactly where they took something.

There'll probably be pictures. They can show that they put it in certain envelopes. They sealed those envelopes, and that's what's going to be presented at trial.

BASH: Given your experience, I just kind of want to take a step back and look at sort of the process here. You know, we've heard Republicans -- I understand what you're saying is that there are questions about equal treatment under the law, but putting that aside, just on this particular case, do you have any reason to believe this was done in any way other than by the book? [12:45:16]

BUCK: OK. So by the book in this situation, I think that there were ways to conduct the operation in getting those documents back besides searching a former president's home. I think there were avenues available.

BASH: How would you have done it if you were the prosecutor then after 14 months of asking, and then of course seeing the surveillance tapes that showed even after a subpoena? They didn't get -- the former president defied a subpoena according to the surveillance case.

BUCK: And it goes beyond that. He hid documents. You know, purposefully putting them in a shower, purposely, putting them on a stage. So there clearly is an intent to hide. There was an intent that he knew it. He talked to his attorneys about these documents that no doubt that it was a difficult situation.

It's just the precedent from my position, my view of searching a former president's home that is just unseemly in this country. I don't know what the answer is, whether there were alternatives or not.

BASH: I want to ask about the notion of the former president being a candidate for president again. As you said, he is innocent until proven guilty. That is the way the system works and should work. But given the allegations you just discussed, some of them, the specifics of the way he allegedly mishandled classified information, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump as president again?

BUCK: Well, I would not feel comfortable with a convicted felon in the White House. So we'll see how the place plays out. The case plays out and we'll see how the evidence is presented and what the defenses are. But let's just look at Donald Trump's words in 2016. He said that Hillary Clinton was unfit for the White House because of the way she handled classified information.

He said that she wasn't even qualified to have a low level State Department job because of the way she handled information. So I think his words have set the standard that America will look at in determining whether he is fit for president.

BASH: What do you, Ken Buck, think? I mean, you just laid out the standard that he set, as you said, talking about Hillary Clinton. Is he living up to those standards based on what you saw in the indictment?

BUCK: Well, as I said, he's innocent until proven guilty. After the trial, if he is convicted of these charges, of mishandling this information, of knowingly concealing his actions, I don't think -- I certainly won't support a convicted felon for the White House.

BASH: One last question, before we get to that point, there's a very active Republican nominating process going on for president. Are you worried about nominating him, considering the fact that he is very far out ahead of everybody else right now, and there's no indication that this particular case, at least in the short term, is going to change that? Are you worried that nominating him could mean losing the White House?

BUCK: Well, first of all, I think it's natural that a former president would be far out in front of others. Secondly, both parties worry me at this point in terms of the nominating process and how they're going about it. But yes, I think if this president has another criminal case that is coming down, he may be facing three indictments and three separate trials going through the process.

It's got to be distracting. It's got to be something that is going to weigh on credibility for those voters in the middle who really make the final decision in elections.

BASH: Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado, thank you so much.

BUCK: Thank you.

BASH: Appreciate your time. Thank you.

And just moments ago, a team of police officers on motorcycles arrived at Donald Trump's property in Doral as he prepares to depart for this historic arraignment at the Miami Federal Courthouse. Were live at the courthouse after a quick break.

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[12:53:46]

BASH: A historic afternoon is unfolding in South Florida. Just a couple of hours from now, inside this Miami Courthouse, former President Donald Trump will surrender to authorities. Security is ramping up outside where some crowds have gathered.

CNN's Ryan Young is there. Ryan, what are you seeing? What can you tell us?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is all about managing traffic and managing people traffic as well. This entire area has been put on a sort of a soft lockdown, and we've seen it sort of play out. There are officers who are in this crowd. When they see things getting a little hot, they swell in.

Right now, there is more media than protestors and we were just talking to the police chief and he says the operations have been going very well so far. They've been able to keep up a much bigger perimeter than what people can see. And then they've been allowing smaller, smaller groups to come into this perimeter.

So, so far, we've seen a couple minor confrontations and fight cops kind of swell in. But take a listen to Miami's police chief. We talked to him as he came out here to excessive situation for himself.

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CHIEF MANUEL A. MORALES, MIAMI POLICE: Very smooth so far. Everybody's behaving as we expected. We just want everybody to kind of peacefully demonstrate their First Amendment rights and we'll make sure that everybody gets home safe. That's what we're looking for.

YOUNG: I can tell there's several layers of security because people talk about barricades, but you not letting everyone just come down this road right now. Tell us about that setup in terms of --

[12:55:05]

MORALES: That's correct. We're just kind of monitoring the traffic and we're getting the crowd and we're looking for individuals that might be trying to agitate other parties and we're just keeping them separate. As you can see, our bicycle response team is doing a phenomenal job kind of keeping the folks at bay.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

MORALES: So we're looking good.

YOUNG: So far, no incidents?

MORALES: No incidents that have been reported so far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: And as you heard the chief say, no incidents so far. We have had some shouting in people's faces, and the bike cops then came in and swelled and separated the two groups. There's a lot of showmanship out here, people showing their Trump pride with their flags and going by with their cars. But right now, no incidents.

They have another section of police that can swell into this area at any moment. Homeland Security is making sure the perimeter of the federal courthouse stays pretty strong at the same time. Guys, we'll continue to watch it at this point.

BASH: Peaceful protests, that's what it's all about. And, obviously, very much allowed under our wonderful Constitution.

Ryan Young, thank you so much for that. Stay with CNN. Our special coverage of the Arrest and Arraignment of Donald Trump starts after this short break.

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