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Inside Politics

Trump Aide Walt Nauta Pleads Not Guilty In Federal Court; DOJ: Security Video Shows Boxes Were Moved At Mar-a-Lago; Unleased Filing Sheds New Light On Documents Case; Trump Nearly Doubles First Quarter Fundraising Haul; Poll: Big Divides Over What Should Happen To Trump If Convicted; Federal Officials Investigating Cocaine Found In WH; WH: Biden Briefed On Cocaine Found In West Wing; Biden To Tout Manufacturing Policies In SC; DeSantis Defends Controversial Video. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 06, 2023 - 12:00   ET

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

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ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Today on Inside Politics, two minutes at a not guilty plea, the third attempt to bring an alleged Trump coconspirator before a judge went according to plan. That as new CNN reporting provides a window into what federal prosecutors knew before the Mar-a- Lago search.

Plus, Ron DeSantis tries to eat, have his cake and eat it too. But he risks angering the Trump base by attacking Donald Trump, while defending a video that critics say crosses the line into outright homophobia. And Putin, Kim, Trump, a new ad from team Pence says, the former president doesn't deserve a second term because he's soft on dictators.

I'm Abby Phillip in for Dana Bash today. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

This morning important action inside the case against Donald Trump. The valet charged alongside the former president pleaded not guilty to six federal charges inside a courtroom after two failed previous attempts to arraign him. We start there in Miami at that federal courthouse where CNN's Carlos Suarez is. So, Carlos, what happened today in that courtroom?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Abby, the 40-year-old that did not say a word as he left the federal courthouse here in downtown Miami, after pleading not guilty to obstruction charges and lying to investigators. Now inside of the courthouse, inside of a courtroom. He was joined by his new South Florida based attorney Sasha Dadan. She is a former public defender with experience trying cases across South Florida. That piece of information according to a source with a knowledge of the situation.

Nauta is being accused of moving boxes with classified documents from a storage room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago property to other parts of the property and lying to federal investigators about the whole thing. The move of prosecutors that say was all in an effort to keep a Trump attorney from finding the classified documents that had been subpoenaed by a grand jury.

The U.S. government, Abby, says that they have surveillance video of Nauta moving the boxes before the FBI searched the property at Mar-a- Lago. And the Feds said that Nauta is essentially lied about the whereabouts of these boxes, and the fact that he did not move them. Abby?

PHILLIP: A lot more on what you just pointed out there in the conversation ahead. Carlos Suarez, thank you very much. And now onto CNN reporting about weather what federal prosecutors swore in an affidavit that helped get the green light for that dramatic Mar-a-Lago search last summer.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has the details on that. So, Katelyn, a few more details coming out with the unredacting of this document. What can you tell us?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Right. So, Abby, in the indictment of Donald Trump and Walt Nauta that we saw last month, it tells the story of what investigators know of obstruction or what they allege to be obstruction, the concealing of records, the moving of boxes, the lying to investigators that everything had been turned over last summer.

And what we're seeing with this new affidavit, is that much of that story was known by the prosecutors even before the FBI went in to do that search of Mar-a-Lago last August. And that's because they put a lot of the detail of that story. In this affidavit they submitted to a magistrate judge to get approval for that search warrant last year.

And so, why they needed to do the search. The details are much of what we still know in the indictment. But back even before the FBI search last August, Abby, they realized that they were talking to Walt Nauta as a witness. He wasn't telling them the full story. They had surveillance video of him moving boxes, moving 64 boxes out of the storage area at Mar-a-Lago, not all of them going back in. They didn't know where they were.

And they said that the current location of the boxes, it is unknown. And so that's why they needed to go in and do that search to find the rest of the classified records. They're building into the case that we have now that Walt Nauta is pleading not guilty too. Abby?

PHILLIP: Yes. Complicating his legal situation for sure. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. And here with me in studio CNN's Paula Reid, CNN's Evan Perez, and former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams. So, Paula, these new details really put a little bit more meat on the bones here about why they took the steps that they did when they tried to seek that search warrant for the search.

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And it has to do with the surveillance footage that shows movement in places where they had previously said, they'd done a search, they found everything, they'd given it back and clearly the Feds believed that that was not the case. PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And it's amazing how these recordings, either voice recordings or here surveillance footage has played such a key role in this criminal prosecution. And now, we know that they knew even before they searched Mar-a-Lago. They were able to see these boxes moving in and out. Who was moving them, right? And then over the next year, that what they saw on the tape to what they were being told in interviews.

I also think it's notable that flash forward a year later, the indictment doesn't make any mention, really of the surveillance footage. We know that they were asking people, if it was possible, they didn't have all of it. If there were any efforts to interfere with investigators ability to obtain all of the material if anyone tried to take out pieces of it. That doesn't show up in the indictment.

And I think that's notable because that's a consistent thread from the time they searched Mar-a-Lago all the way till now, but it's unclear where exactly they ended up on that. And some people have suggested the possibility of a superseding indictment. And this is one of the outstanding questions about the surveillance footage and whether anyone tried to tamper with it.

PHILLIP: Yes, that's really interesting. I want to read here from the affidavit. To that point, it says the day after that on June 2, 2022, WITNESS 5 is observed moving 25 to 30 boxes, some of which were brown cardboard boxes, and others of which were banker's boxes consistent with the description of the FPOTUS former president of the United States boxes into the entrance of the anteroom.

In addition to just this picture that they're painting here of boxes being moved. I mean, Trump clearly had boxes in places that he -- his attorneys at least had alleged or have had sworn too, weren't out there in private parts of the residents of Mar-a-Lago.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. It seems, you know, again, what you look -- when you see that -- I mean, you look at this affidavit where you get the sense of is that the -- is that the Trump team was trying to corral this into one certain place. So, when the Feds come to pick up these documents, this is where they would find it. And what the former president was doing is going behind the back of his own attorneys to conceal some of that.

The question that we still don't really understand is, why. The other question that I think is outstanding from all of this is, you know, the Feds, the investigators believe that there are still some documents missing.

And in addition to the outstanding question that you raise, you know, that remains one of the things, one of the big mysteries that really has hung over this entire investigation, right, which is the belief that the FBI had, the belief by the prosecutors that there are still missing documents and where they might be.

PHILLIP: One of the other things that's notable is that the affidavit doesn't say that Trump's lawyer said that the documents were declassified, which they have made those assertions after the fact. They never did in all the lead up to this search suggests that whatever he had, he was allowed to have them. He had the absolute power to declassify with his mind or what have you.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And there's a few things to that point that are unclassified. In addition to the information about the surveillance video, there are a few sort of legal conclusions made by the agent saying, in my training and experience, I believe that x. So, for instance, one of them is, I believe that documents classified at this level typically contain national defense information.

Regardless of whether these things were declassified. The fact that they contain NDI is the acronym they use here, means that it's relevant to a charge for possessing sensitive information. So, it sort of pour some water on that red herring, you're pointing out about whether the former president declassified things, but also helps make the case for what they actually charging.

PEREZ: What you see here, right, is, it really goes against this claim that you keep hearing from the foreign president going back to last year, and some of his allies more recently, which is that the former president was being railroaded that the FBI and the Justice Department were out to get him that they didn't have enough proof. And they had no reason to conduct that search.

And what you see more strongly here is that they had tons of information. And if anything, you know, any one of us right, would have had a much stronger response from the FBI. But they were giving the former president a lot of deference.

PHILLIP: In some ways, I remember after the search happened, the Trump team, they were basically saying, well, why is the federal government trying to keep this secret? Well, the details of the affidavit don't really help the fact pattern for Donald Trump.

But on another note, we just got some fundraising numbers from the Trump team. His campaign for the presidency and why this is relevant in the legal sense is because, take a look at this, first quarter $18.8 million. By the second quarter, this is after the indictments, plural, by the way $35 million, and some of that money increasingly more is going to pay his legal fees through his PAC.

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REID: That's a choice that donors are making, right? You can't be unaware of the breadth and depth of former President Trump's legal issues. When you give him money at this point, and you may believe that he is victimized by the FBI, by the DOJ. But if you read the indictment, particularly the Mar-a-Lago indictment, it is incredibly well supported. It is detailed, and it's suggesting that he was careless, reckless, even with some of our most sensitive national security secrets.

And it is hard to reconcile how people could want to put their hard- earned dollars, right, in a kitty to help support the defense of such a thing. Even if you agree with his policies, if you support him as a candidate, the fact that you're going to defend him, he can't even find a lawyer. So, who they're paying, I don't know. (crosstalk)

PEREZ: One point on that, you know, on the money, we know, right, that there's another part of this investigation that's been ongoing, which is the January 6, sort of elected collectors' part of this thing. And one of the things that we know, witnesses have been repeatedly asked about is the financial part of this. And, you know, one of the theories that investigators have pursued is whether all of this stuff, you know, the effort to overturn the election, all of it was just to raise money and a big giant grift.

PHILLIP: Yes. So, Elliot, I want to just bring this up here. This is a poll showing just the divergence here politically, in terms of what people think should happen to Trump. A Dems overwhelmingly say, he should be imprisoned if he's convicted. Republicans say, there should be absolutely no punishment at all.

This is a case where there is real punishment at stake here. The consequences in this documents case, let's not even talk about January 6, include some prison time, but someone's going to have to decide what happens if he is convicted to a former president.

WILLIAMS: And, you know, that person that someone was -- it was the Senate a few years ago, which made the choice not to either remove the former president from office or bar him from running for future office. One of the decisions made by the framers of this country and their wisdom on this July, what is it fifth or sixth today, after we celebrate our independence.

But one of the decisions they made was to say that virtually anybody can run for president, and you can be president of the United States if under criminal indictment. You don't have to like it. That's just the way it is. The Senate was the right body to make that choice and they chose not to.

PHILLIP: And, of course, there's going to be a jury here that's living in this incredibly polarized world, in which Democrats and Republicans aren't completely on opposite sides of this issue here. It's going to be very difficult to find a jury that is able to do this dispassionately, but we will -- -

PEREZ: The Trump is part of the Florida.

PHILLIP: We will. This is America, will find a jury.

REID: It's hard to commutation still on the table for whoever is the leader of the free world at that time, if it's not former President Trump.

PHILLIP: An important point as well. Thank you all for joining us for that conversation. Coming up next, the secret service now combing through. Cameras and visitor logs, racing to figure out who brought drugs into the White House. In the meantime, it's business as usual, though, for President Biden, he just touched down in South Carolina to give a lesson in Bidenomics.

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PHILLIP: It's a real White House who brung it. Federal officials say that they are doing everything possible to figure out who brought a dime sized bag of cocaine into the West Wing. It was found in an area accessible by both staff and by visitors.

Let's go to the White House since CNN's Arlette Saenz. So, Arlette, officials are now looking for who did this incredible thing. Are there any leads here? Are they any closer to figuring it out?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So far, no indication that they've gotten any closer to finding out who brought that baggie of cocaine to the West Wing of the White House. But secret service officials are using every tool at their disposal to try to find the culprit. A federal law enforcement official says that that includes DNA testing, as well as fingerprint analysis on the bag. And secret services also combing through surveillance videos and the visitor's logs.

Now this baggie of a white powdery substance which was later identified and confirmed to be cocaine was found in the West Wing of the White House on Sunday. It was found in an area that includes some cubbies where visitors can drop off their phones before get being given a tour of the White House by staff. It's also an area where staff might leave their electronic devices if they are heading into a secure location. So, look for classified information.

Now the White House says that this was an area that is highly traveled. There is a lot of foot traffic through that area and that they're trying to work the secret service using every tool possible to try to determine who brought that cocaine to the White House.

Now it's worth noting President Biden and his family were all away at Camp David over the weekend when this occurred. And an official says that there were tours that took place both on all three days Friday, Saturday and Sunday of last weekend.

And one official cautions, that there is a chance even though they have all these tools of forensics that they can run. There is a chance that they may not be able to determine who brought that cocaine to the White House due to the amount of people that go through that area as well as the small size of the bag. President Biden this morning ignored questions from reporters about the latest in the investigation. But that investigation that's being conducted by the secret service does continue today.

PHILLIP: Strange story. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much. And now to what the White House would much rather be talking about today. And that is Bidenomics. The president just landed in South Carolina where he is set to tout his manufacturing and economic policies. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is traveling with the president and joins us now.

So, Priscilla, South Carolina is obviously a deep red state, but it's also a critical Democratic primary state and early state now, and it's the one that revived his 2020 primary hopes back in 2020. What is the sales pitch today?

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Abby, for those reasons, that is why this is an aside often (Ph) just the latest effort by President Biden to highlight his legislative accomplishments like the Inflation Reduction Act and the infrastructure line. So, President Biden is going to bring his sales pitch of Bidenomics to the state here today. And that is a pitch that they launched last week and one that they were embracing as they bank on a strong economy going into 2024.

Now, President Biden, when he arrives, we'll be coming to this manufacturing facility where he'll have a tour. And then he's going to deliver remarks where he's going to tout some of those accomplishments, including $11 billion and manufacturing and clean energy in the state, as well as $2.6 billion in awards toward infrastructure.

But of course, President Biden is expected to take a political swipe at the South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, who is the representative of this district and also voted to repeal the inflation reduction. exopolitics certainly, still at the center of this stop here. And of course, Abby, this is still a tough sell.

What we know from polls is that there are still two-thirds of disapproval among Americans of the economy. President Biden trying to make the pitch here that the economy will continue to be strong moving into the presidential election.

PHILLIP: It's a critical argument that he's got to make even to his own party. Priscilla, thank you very much. And up next, what some Republicans call dangerous and homophobic, Ron DeSantis is calling totally fair game. A new interview and that story, next.

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PHILLIP: Ron DeSantis made it clear this week that no one should expect an apology for a video, multiple Republicans say is outright homophobic. The presidential hopeful gave an interview last night and defended that video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, I think, you know, identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream where he was having men compete against women and his beauty pageants. I think that's totally fair game because he's now campaigning, saying the opposite, that he doesn't think that you should have men competing in women's, things like athletics.

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PHILLIP: And here with me around the table is CNN's David Chalian, Margaret Talev of Axios, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times. Never apologize, am I right? This is one of those situations where they could have tried to create some distance. It seems that the campaign itself did not create the video, but he's not doing that. And if I -- if anyone needs a reminder, let's just play a little bit of what we're talking about here.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

PHILLIP: In addition to it, being just kind of strange, now he's doubling down.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Doubling down is part of the GOP playbook, especially when you're trying to out Trump at this point. This is an example of DeSantis and his team trying to play almost to the right of Trump. But look, you also have a risk of that backfire.

And politically, one, you do have multiple Republicans and LGBTQ, Republican groups that have said that this is homophobic. You also have them saying, look, you continue to do this and may also alienate some independent voters, some also voters in swing states that you're also going to need, it seems like DeSantis -- this is almost one example of him trying to carve out a lane that's directly to the right of Trump. But I'm not sure if you can go faster and Trump than that speed lane.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And it's not clear how much space there really is to the right of Trump, which is an odd thing to say when you think about Donald Trump in his history as a former Democrat in the constellation of this Republican party that's now completely recreated in his image. But Ron DeSantis's support inside the party.

If you looked at all the polling from this spring sort of together, and he pulls from Independence. He's pulling a lot of support from people that are not naturally fit to Trump necessarily. And so, it's an odd strategy because he is distancing himself from the swath of voters in the party that he would need in the tent and part of a coalition if he is going to take down Donald Trump. So, it's not entirely clear why he thinks that's the background.

PHILLIP: And maybe he's looking at the polls that we've all seen that show Trump at, you know, what 55, 60 percent, and he's like, I got a cut into this. I just want to play a little bit more of his interview, because he kind of speaks to this question of why he's running now and what the urgency in his own career is to run for president?

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TOMI LAHREN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What do you say to those Trump supporters who say, we like Ron DeSantis? We wish he would have waited till his 2028 turn. What do you tell those people?

GOV. DESANTIS: Well, first of all, in America, we don't have turns. People can run if they believe they have something to offer the country. And I can tell you as somebody that's worn the country's uniform, who served in Iraq, who believes in in a cause greater than myself, I believe 2024 is make or break. I think I'm the guy that can get all of that done. And I think I have a responsibility to offer myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So, there is a sense of urgency in his mind there, but he's facing very difficult odds up against a candidate who isn't, maybe not Teflon, but just has a lot of resiliency in the Republican primaries.

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