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Parents of U.S. Marine Held in Russia Plead with Biden; Source: Trump's DOJ Sought Records of White House Counsel McGahn; Biden Making First Visit to NATO as U.S. President; Boston Globe: Prosecute Trump to Save Democracy in Long Run. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 14, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar. On this NEW DAY, President Biden meeting this morning with NATO leaders on his first foreign trip, presenting, trying to, a united front against aggression from China and Russia.

[06:00:52]

A CNN exclusive, new information about a retired Marine serving nine years in a Russian prison as his parents plead with President Biden to secure his release.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And first journalists, then Congress, and now the sprawling data collection of the Trump Justice Department reaches the former White House counsel and his wife.

And new overnight, the U.S. is assessing reports of a possible leak in a nuclear plant in China. Authorities are calling it an imminent threat.

BERMAN: Good Monday morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is June 14. President Biden's first overseas trip as commander in chief entering a crucial next phase. The president now in Brussels, arriving there last night, set to meet with NATO leaders. He's due to arrive at NATO headquarters within the hour. We will bring that to you live.

The summit comes as he looks to reassert American leadership on the world stage and strengthen global partnerships following the G-7 meeting in England. President Biden is working to reset the U.S. relationship with NATO allies after his predecessor, who frequently railed against NATO, questioned the need for the alliance and argued the U.S. was contributing more than its fair share to the group.

KEILAR: Among the many items on the agenda here, the White House says members will announce a new strategy to address threats from China and Russia. The NATO summit is a prelude, as well, to President Biden's high-stakes, face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That will take place Wednesday in Geneva. And Biden says he agrees with Putin on one thing: that relations between the two countries are at a low point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's about making myself very clear what the conditions are to get a better relationship are with Russia. We're not looking for conflict. We are looking to resolve those actions, which we think are inconsistent with international norms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, ahead of this Biden/Putin meeting, CNN is reporting exclusively on a plea from the parents of American Trevor Reed, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence in Russia. And CNN has also obtained a hand-written and heartbreaking letter to his family that details his worsening battle with COVID behind bars.

Reed's parents hope that their son's release will be part of President Biden's summit agenda with Putin.

Let's bring in CNN's Matthew Chance, who is live in Geneva with more on this -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, thanks very much. Well, there's a list as long as your arm of fraught issues between the two countries that are going to be discussed between President Biden and President Putin here in Geneva on Wednesday when they meet for that first face-to-face summit.

But none of the issues are more emotional than the one of prisoners being held in both countries, in fact, in each other's jails. And this morning, we've had an emotional plea from the parents of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine held in a Russian jail and sentenced to nine years there, for his release.

They're calling on both President Biden and President Putin to try and find a way to have him released.

Just to remind our viewers, Trevor Reed was arrested and convicted last year for endangering the life of a Russian policeman after getting into a fight after a night drinking and was taken away by the authorities there.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison. Since then, he's contracted COVID, and he's in a very bad medical state, according to those who had access to him.

Here's an excerpt from the letter that we've had from Trevor Reed's parents. It says this: "We'd like to ask President Putin to let us speak to Trevor, restore his access, and send and receive letters and for the authorities to be completely transparent about whatever minimal care they provided to him. We're terribly worried about his health and wellbeing, and we're pleading with Presidents Biden and President Putin to work out something. This has gone on for too long."

It's a statement from Paula and Joey Reed, the parents of Trevor Reed. And it comes, of course, just a few days after they received their last communication with him. It's in the form of a letter, which we've also now got access to. It was handwritten in Russian, because apparently, according to the Russian prison rules, you have to write Russia -- letters in Russian so the authorities, I expect, can read it.

[06:05:12]

Here's a sort of translation of what he said. He said his blood pressure was very high. Trevor Reed telling his parents in his letter, I've got pain in my lungs. I suffer from a cough from time to time. I've lost several kilograms in weight. We aren't allowed to go for walks.

And he's saying that he hasn't had much access, either, to -- to embassy officials, and he's concerned about whether they know, even, about his case. And so look, I mean, this is one of the issues that the two presidents are going to speak with.

I spoke to the Kremlin a couple of days ago, and they said, Look, it's a sensitive issue, but it is something that is likely to be on the agenda of the two presidents when they meet on Wednesday -- Brianna.

KEILAR: What is the U.S. saying about this so far, Matthew?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, on the case of Trevor Reed, the U.S. diplomats in Moscow have been really critical of the way this trial and this conviction was carried out. They called it, in fact, a theater of the absurd. Within the past few days, they've also issued another statement, saying that Trevor "has received none of the letters that his family has sent." They say they're "gravely concerned about his health," and their "constant requests for access to our citizen and updates about his medical condition have been ignored," which they say is a clear violation of the various conventions that take that.

I mean, as far as we're aware, U.S. diplomats have not been able to be in contact with Trevor Reed, who is, again, sick in a Russian prison for the past three weeks, and so it's a very serious matter indeed.

KEILAR: All right, Matthew. We will be watching that as things develop there in Switzerland. And we're also going to be speaking with Treavor Reed's parents, Joey and Paula Reed, who will be on later this morning on NEW DAY.

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now, Julia Ioffe, founding partner and Washington correspondent for "Puck," who has covered stories on U.S.- Russian relations for years.

Julia, thanks so much for being with us. Look, the Trevor Reed letter is heartbreaking. I mean, what are the prospects, you think, that this meeting, this summit can secure his release?

JULIA IOFFE, FOUNDING PARTNER/WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "PUCK": Well, I think both sides, both the Kremlin and the White House, are trying to keep expectations quite low for this meeting. They're both saying there is not going to be a lot of deliverables.

But you know, it's worth thinking back to 2010 when there was a very dramatic exchange of people accused of espionage, both in Russia and the U.S. This was done under President Obama's tenure, under the age of the reset, the so-called reset, where the Russian government and the American government agreed to have two planes meet on the tarmac and have the people accused of espionage kind of cross the tarmac, get on their planes, and go home.

The question is, are Russia and the U.S. capable of a deal like that, of a kind of back-room deal where that does require quite a bit of trust and open communication.

At the moment, the U.S. does not have an ambassador in Moscow, and Moscow does not have an ambassador in Washington. So -- and embassy staff in both countries have been drastically cut, so there's not a ton of communication going on.

BERMAN: Yes. Those two leaders have to meet, because there's no one else who can meet at this point. These seem to be the only two of the two countries who can actually do it.

And when you say that both sides are setting the expectations low, I mean, that may be, you know, the understatement of the century. Both sides basically saying the relations haven't been this bad in decades, and then you have Vladimir Putin out there doing these interviews, this posturing, which clearly, he wants people in Russia and the world to see, including this interview with NBC News. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, are you a killer?

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Under my tenure, I've gotten used to attacks from all kinds of angles, and from all kinds of areas, under all kinds of pretexts and reasons. There are different caliber and fierceness, but none of it surprises me. So as far as harsh rhetoric, I think that this is an expression of overall U.S. culture.

Of course, in Hollywood, there are some underlying deep things in Hollywood, macho, which could be treated as cinematic art. But that is part of U.S. political culture, where it's considered normal. By the way, not here. It is not considered normal here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So what's Putin playing at here in this interview? But Julia, largely speaking, what's he playing at in the run-up to the summit?

IOFFE: Well, of course, he's, let's say, not being quite accurate when he says that machismo is not part of the culture in Russia. Just think about some of the topless photos we've seen of the Russian president, and you know he's not being quite forthright.

You know, as to your larger question, he's trying to show that he is both the victim and the only calm adult in the room, just kind of watching with calm bemusement this American circus while we chase around tails and snipe at each other. [06:10:07]

And he's just saying, you know, A, this is what democracy looks like. Are you sure you want this, to -- both to his own people and to people around the world. And you know, he's also saying he's above it all, and he's -- he's not only Biden's equal but maybe his superior because of the -- what he thinks is a position of strength going into this meeting.

BERMAN: Watching it very closely. It would be interesting to see not just the summit but what else transpires, leading up to it, as well. Julia Ioffe, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

IOFFE: Thanks for having me.

The Trump administration's aggressive search for leaks turned its focus inside the White House. Details on the secret subpoenas for former White House counsel Don McGahn and his wife.

KEILAR: And there are reports of a possible leak at a Chinese nuclear facility being called an imminent radiological threat. We'll have CNN's exclusive reporting.

BERMAN: And England set to announce a significant delay in its reopening plan as the corona -- coronavirus variant spreads quickly. What does that mean for cases here in the United States?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:26]

BERMAN: New reporting this morning on the sprawling dragnet by the Trump Justice Department and its effort to obtain information on at least two members of Congress, as well as journalists, including one here at CNN.

We've now learned that the records of Trump's former White House counsel, Don McGahn, and his wife were also sought. CNN's Whitney Wild joins us. The scope of this just keeps getting bigger and bigger, Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It's bigger than anyone could have imagined at the outset. And the slow drip of these details started to come out when "The New York Times" was notified that their records were being swept up, "The Washington Post," CNN. Now we're learning that this leaked investigation is extended into the White House, raising new questions this morning about who was directly behind these leak investigations and why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILD (voice-over): Former President Trump's Justice Department under fire again after new reports reveal another secret subpoena, this time for information about former White House counsel Don McGahn and his wife. A source familiar with the matter telling CNN McGahn was informed by

Apple last month that DOJ sought records in February 2018 while he was still serving as the top lawyer inside the Trump White House.

The subpoena was under a non-disclosure order that was only lifted in May, indicating that the department went to a judge to have it renewed multiple times since 2018. This comes a week after two House Democrats confirmed that DOJ also sought the records of some members of the House Intelligence Committee, their staff, and families.

REP. PETER WELCH (D-VT): It's astonishing that Donald Trump was not only attacking Adam Schiff, with whom he had a vendetta, but he was going after his own lawyer. So the personal ability of Donald Trump to have loyalty to no one is on display here.

WILD: Though there is no indication that the pursuit of McGahn's data was politically motivated, the order came just weeks after Trump was reportedly unhappy with McGahn. Trump was allegedly trying to pressure McGahn to cover up his request to fire then-special counsel Robert Mueller.

The source confirming that the subpoena did not come from Mueller's team. McGahn learned his records were sought by the DOJ in May. In early June, he finally provided closed-door testimony to the House Judiciary Committee about the Russia investigation, which concluded a two-year court battle where the Trump administration fought to squash the committee's subpoena.

Trump's former national security advisor, John Bolton, who has butted heads with the former president, says he's prepared to believe the worst.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I haven't gotten any calls from Apple yet, so I'm still waiting to see. I think I'm certainly prepared to believe the worst, that Trump used the Justice Department for his own political purposes. I've experienced that myself. I definitely think we need to get to the bottom of it.

WILD: Another source familiar with the matter tells CNN that former attorney general Jeff Sessions and former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had no knowledge of the subpoena for McGahn's data from Apple. The Democratic speaker of the House finds that hard to believe.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): This is about undermining the rule of law, and for these attorneys general, or Sessions, at least, too, to say that they didn't know anything about it is beyond belief. So we will have to have them come under oath to testify about that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILD: Well, this news over the weekend preceding a planned meeting between "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," CNN, and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The goal there, John, is to try to convince DOJ to not just do a memo change to actually do a policy change that would give more freedom of the press tamp-down on leak investigations like this. As we await that answer, the big question now, John, is who's next.

BERMAN: Yes. That's a very fair question. How wider -- how much wider does this go in that meeting today with Merrick Garland? Very important indeed. Whitney Wild, thank you very much.

Live pictures now on the side of your screen here of President Biden arriving shortly at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Let's go right to CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who is there.

Jeff, what are we expecting?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we are expecting President Biden to begin his first NATO summit as president here momentarily. He'll be meeting with several leaders before. And, of course, that family photo that we see at every one of these gatherings that really shows the -- the camaraderie and dynamic of their partnership.

So we will see that. But President Biden really is trying to carry through his message that he's been talking about throughout his European tour. That the transatlantic alliance is back, but particularly, it resonates here at NATO.

This, of course, is a place where former President Donald Trump, in his first term in office, came here and really poked his finger in the eye of NATO. The next year, he threatened to withdraw from the military alliance. So President Biden continuing his pledge and pitch that America is back and talking about the stronger alliance.

But there are some key items on the agenda when some 30 leaders sit down. They actually only have about five minutes each to speak, because there are so many of them, and it is just about a three-hour summit or so.

But they are going to be talking about Russia, talking about China. So all of this is part of the continuing message here, the aggression from Russia, the rise of China. They'll be working on this strategic concept it's called, really updating. The last time they did it was 2010.

Of course, at that time Russia was mentioned as a partner. China wasn't mentioned at all. So all of these leaders will be working toward developing that.

But John, certainly, President Biden continuing his trip across Europe. He said when he was leaving England yesterday evening, he said he does not view NATO as a protection racket, of course, making a direct comment to -- to former President Donald Trump who really angered a lot of allies here by saying that they don't contribute enough to this.

But that is a concern, how much money their defense spending is, which contributes to NATO. So all of those items on the agenda here as we see President Biden making his way for the big part of his week here in Europe, of course, ending in that summit in Geneva on Wednesday. BERMAN: You're talking about the family photo. And it is ceremonial,

but it could also be complicated, as we saw during the last administration when President Trump sometimes seemed to be vying for a more prominent position. The body language between the former president and the leaders was anything but congenial. I imagine we expect to see something vastly different with President Biden.

ZELENY: Correct. No question about it. I mean, certainly, as we saw in the last couple days here, when he was meeting with the European leaders, the group of seven leaders in England, no.

It was described as a breath of fresh air by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and on and on. So certainly, there's a change in leadership.

But one thing, John, I will say: President Biden's decision to withdraw all troops from Afghan by September 11 is somewhat controversial, because it was so quick.

So he has some issues, certainly, to be speaking with these leaders about and confront the U.S. on. But the big question is, when he says America is back, is he able to prove that? And actually, last evening he said he believes America is making some progress, trying to reassert themselves on the world stage, but noted that it is still a work in progress.

So certainly, an interesting day here. He'll also be meeting with -- with several leaders individually. But, again, the White House behind the scenes, John, I can tell you, they're working toward that summit with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

BERMAN: All right. It's a long lineup to the arrival. This is not his arrival right now. We are waiting to see President Biden arrive there. And we'll have those pictures for you on the screen shortly.

In the meantime, let's go to Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. There is a new opinion piece by "The Boston Globe's" editorial board, and it argues that former President Trump must be prosecuted for crimes committed while in office as a deterrent to future presidents abusing their authority.

The board writes, quote, "A commander in chief tried his very best to subvert democracy. He attacked his own country. Five people died. Allowing him to go unpunished would set a far more dangerous precedent than having Trump stand trial."

And joining us now to discuss this is Abdallah Fayyad. He is the opinion writer and editorial board member for "The Boston Globe."

Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

ABDALLAH FAYYAD, OPINION WRITER/EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Thanks so much for inviting me.

KEILAR: One of the big points of this, which is -- it's part of a series, right? It's part of series that you have done about future- proofing the presidency, and this one deals with a case to prosecute President Trump.

And one of the points that you make is that going after him on financial crimes isn't enough, that he needs to be accountable for what he did as president. Explain that.

FAYYAD: Well, so, this was an incredibly -- you know, it's not -- it's not necessarily, you know, a statement that we make lightly as an editorial board. We had to reckon with, you know, over two centuries of tradition of not prosecuting former presidents for crimes they've committed in office or abusing their power, no matter how crooked they are.

But no matter how crooked former presidents have been, you know, none before the 45th really tried to instigate a coup. And so Donald Trump was different and so our institutional reaction to him must also be different. And so that's why we're making this recommendation to reintroduce the element of deterrence in the Oval Office so that future presidents, future holders of the office can understand very clearly that breaking the law in the Oval Office will actually be punished.

And so that's the reason we can't let Donald Trump get away with everything that he did, because if we just let his presidency linger over us without any legal closure, then we have to ask ourselves what message our government is sending to future office holders of that office.

KEILAR: Republicans who support Donald Trump want to move on, but there are even people who are not supporters of Donald Trump who worry if your prosecute a former president, it's going to set off this pattern of retaliation, of looking to the last president and making them pay not just politically but, you know, making it punitive, using the Justice Department politically.

In your article you make the point that outside of the U.S., holding a president accountable for his actions in Congress, it's not unusual. You write, "Filing charges against former leaders is not a radical step, either. Foreign democracies, including South Korea, Italy, and France."

Actually, Abdallah, we're going to pause for just a moment. Let's listen to President Biden speaking in Geneva.

BIDEN: -- tell me (ph). I wish you were not leaving, because -- and I really mean it. You have been absolutely incredible. You've been strong. You've been -- you've been able to pull people together.

And I think that there is a growing recognition over the last couple of years that we have new challenges, and we have Russia that is not acting in a way that is consistent with what we had hoped, and as well as China.

And I must say that, as preliminary to this, a number of my colleagues, our colleagues who are in the G-7, have stepped up, as well, in terms of the need for there to be greater coordination than we have now.

But I want to make it clear. NATO is critically important for U.S. interests, in and of itself. If there weren't one, we'd have to invent one. It is -- it allows America to -- to conduct its business around the world in a way that never would have occurred, were it not for NATO, No. 1.

No. 2, I believe -- and I've said this my whole career and the four years I was out when I decided to run for president again -- that NATO is -- Article V, we take as a sacred obligation. And I constantly remind Americans that, when America was attacked for the first time on its shores since what happened back in the beginning of World War II, NATO stepped up. NATO stepped up, and they honored Article V.

And I just want all of Europe to know that the United States is there. The United States is there.

And we -- and we are pleased. Back in Wales (ph), a decision was made to increase spending. You're right. And it's moving up. I guess more than ten countries that have met the goal, and others are on the way.

And so it's -- it's important. But -- but it's -- I just want to thank you for your leadership. This wouldn't happen without you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks so much.

BIDEN: I mean it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

KEILAR: All right. President Biden there in Brussels, Belgium, meeting with the head of NATO, and reinforcing that the United States is committed to NATO, is committed to NATO countries, and broadly, the message that the United States is re-engaging with the world.

We're going to be tracking this. And Jeff Zeleny is there? Brussels watching what's happening. It's very clear what the message is from the president as he heads for this NATO summit.

ZELENY: Brianna, it absolutely is. And we've heard President Biden talk specifically about Article V. That is, of course, is the collective defense, really mission statement, and an attack on one is an attack on all.

And of course, he talked about 9/11. And we've heard him really mention the importance and the commitment to Article V on every day of his stop here throughout Europe.

This, of course, is a stark contrast to President Trump, who really said he didn't think that was important or necessary or timely anymore. But now the leaders today will be talking about Article V in a newer light with cyberattacks, so being able to include cyberattacks into that.

But also, the president just simply, you know, using a softer tone with a similar message about how members countries of NATO also have to contribute more on the GDP on defense spending.

That is the whole point of this alliance, is to have a military alliance, where there is a readiness issues. So it's a similar message to what former President Barack Obama delivered. Pay more.

President Trump did it, as well. But he threatened to pull out and said members weren't paying their dues. So a different posture entirely, even though the subtext is essentially the same, Brianna.

Certainly, his first NATO summit as president, but he spent the bulk of his life trying to build the transatlantic alliance.

KEILAR: Yes. He's changing how he says it, if not exactly what he is saying there.