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Parnas' Lawyer Asks for Documents; FBI Warns QAnon; Amanda Kloots is Interviewed about Losing Her Husband to COVID. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 15, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

LEV PARNAS, INDICTED GIULIANI ASSOCIATE: Should really, you know, got really close and I kind of became, you know, inducted into their team to help with this Ukraine situation. You know, to -- right now I'm very apologetic and I feel very bad that Ambassador Yovanovitch, what happened to her, should have never happened to her. It should have never transpired the way it was. It was all based off of rumors and innuendos and, like I said, I apologized before and I'd like to apologize to her now. Whatever part, or whatever I did, I apologize to you, Ambassador Yovanovitch, because there was no reason that that should have happened to you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Bondi, I want to ask you, as we talk about Rudy Giuliani here, I know that you think the FBI may actually have information that is helpful to your client, Mr. Parnas, that they discovered in the FBI raid on his home, on his office and also the seizure of a device from Attorney Victoria Toensing.

What do you think was seized that would be helpful to Mr. Parnas?

JOSEPH BONDY, ATTORNEY FOR LEV PARNAS: Well, just in terms of context, we filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds of selective prosecution. And the crux of that argument was that Lev was arrested prematurely in an attempt to prevent him from providing testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in the first impeachment inquiry. And, I mean, that's the crux of it.

And we've laid out in our public filings, and identified a call Mr. Giuliani had made to me in which he failed to hang up and say to his then lawyer, whomever it was, that his phone would be the -- soon to be gotten rid of cell phone.

And so our argument about Lev being arrested for untoward purpose to prevent him from being a potential witness in Congress, we think that there is a trove of information on Mr. Giuliani's phone and also on Ms. Toensing's phone that will support that -- that premise.

And so we've asked a judge to allow us to receive those items. It's dicey because there's a special master being appointed. A lot of evidence on those phones. But, you know, for our purposes, we believe there will be information relevant to those motions on those devices. KEILAR: I do -- I do need to note, and perhaps not surprisingly, that

federal prosecutors are disagreeing with you on this and are arguing to deny access to any of that information.

But Mr. Parnas, to you, when you look at this raid that we've seen on Rudy Giuliani's home and his office and all of the devices that were seized, do you think that he will ultimately stand trial?

PARNAS: I mean it's a good question, Brianna. It's -- what -- it's hard to say. I've never seen 18 devices. I know Rudy always had a couple -- two, three different devices, a couple of phones and an iPad always with him. Two, three phones maximum. And I don't -- I believe Rudy is never going to admit any guilt. He doesn't believe he did anything wrong. Just from what I know of Rudy, I might be wrong, but I don't think he, himself, in his world, believes he did anything wrong. And I think he's going to go down to the count.

KEILAR: Do you think he'll stand trial?

PARNAS: I think, yes, I think he'll stand trial.

KEILAR: Have you spoken -- I know that you, obviously, turned over a lot of information to the House Intel Committee. Have you spoken with prosecutors?

BONDY: We can't really talk about that in terms of -- we're not going to talk about our discussions that we're having, we're not having or anything like that in some district. I'm sorry.

KEILAR: OK. So you can't shed any light on if Mr. Parnas has given consideration to cooperating?

BONDY: We're not shedding any light on that at all, no. We've -- from the moment we entered this case, we've been willing to speak the truth. We had to go to court to get evidence released under protective order to the House Intelligence Committee. But we're not going to talk about anything that we may be doing right now behind the scenes.

KEILAR: OK.

Mr. Parnas, you are certainly aware that the former attorney general, Bill Barr -- I know you've been talking a lot about this on social media because he's been in the news since we have learned about these secret subpoenas that targeted Democratic members of Congress, including their family members, in 2018.

The subpoenas were from before Barr was in office, but this effort is something that Barr continued with, certainly to investigate, and he says he didn't know anything about it.

What do you think?

PARNAS: I think he's lying. And that's, like I went -- about a year and a half ago I first came out and I first said, it was a very scary day in my life, you know, going against probably, you know, he's -- if not one of the most powerful, if not the most power person in the United States, Attorney General William Barr at the time, having my life in the DOJ's hands.

[08:35:07]

And I came out and I said it. I mean he was in the loop. He's very corrupt. And the reason why I knew it was because I was a part of a lot of the phone calls that he was on the other end of from like Joe diGenova or Rudy or stuff like that. And, you know, and then watching him lie about it on TV just showed to me how ruthless or, you know, how corrupt he is.

And so it's kind of very -- I'm very happy and elated that now he's not the attorney general and now that the truth is coming out. You know, I'm very hopeful that, you know, eventually that maybe he'll see a day in court one day and have to testify under oath to tell the truth and maybe -- you know. But, yes, General Barr was one of the main people involved in Trump's world to get things done for him.

KEILAR: We're talking to you today as President Biden is in Europe getting ready here for, in just about a day, a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. You know, even in the last few days, former President Trump has sort of popped up to say that he trusts Russia more than he trusts the U.S. intelligence community. And Putin went out of his way in the last few days to praise Trump. What do you think's going on here?

PARNAS: Well, you know, Brianna, I'll tell you, Putin is a lot smarter than Trump, obviously. Going back a couple of years, just, you know, in the circle, Putin never respected Trump. Putin never liked Trump. Putin was very -- you know -- you know, actually worried of Trump because of, you know, he was very radical and unpredictable.

But Putin used Trump because Trump was very usable and allowed him -- he was the first United States president that would allow him to be used like that to get Russia to interfere in our elections and make this whole mess that's going on. So my opinion that -- I think that right now at -- it's going to be much better. I think Putin, even though he won't say it, has more respect for Biden than most people think because Putin understands where Biden stands. He's been a political person for many, many years. And with Trump it was very unreliable and nobody wanted that in the world. But because Trump gave him the opportunity, Putin used that opportunity and I think now things will get back to normality with it.

KEILAR: This years-long campaign to dig up dirt from Ukraine on Joe Biden that was done to benefit Donald Trump and that you were a huge part of, at any point when you were involved in that, did you think that your associates were representing Russian interests?

PARNAS: Oh, never. Never. Absolutely. That's why after my arrest and actually after watching Rudy go off the handle and start dealing with actual Russian assets down afterwards, it was really mindboggling because when we -- when I was involved, I was working for the United States of America, the president of the United States. I truly, truly believed that there was a deep state. I know it's wrong now and I know I made a lot of mistakes and, you know, I'm paying for it and I'm trying to be a better person by admitting them. But I truly believed that there was a deep state. And a lot of people in his coat (ph), you know, are really mesmerized by that. And that's why, you know, it's wrong.

KEILAR: Lev Parnas, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Thank you to your attorney, Joseph Bondy, as well.

PARNAS: Thank you, Brianna. Thank you for having us.

KEILAR: The FBI warning lawmakers that QAnon's digital soldiers could become more violent following the attack on the Capitol. We'll have that story first on CNN, next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the widow of Broadway star Nick Cordero opens up in a new book about their love story, his COVID fight and life after his death. Amanda Kloots join us just ahead.

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[08:42:25]

BERMAN: Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory could be becoming more dangerous. That is according to a new report from the FBI that warns that the mostly digital movement could translate into more real- world violence following the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Joining us now is Jitarth Jadeja, he's a former QAnon follower who has since rejected the movement and its beliefs.

This report from the FBI which says it could move from digital to factual, real-world violent stuff, even more violent after January 6th, your reaction?

JITARTH JADEJA, FORMER QANON FOLLOWER: Well, I wasn't surprised. I don't know anyone who studies or follows the QAnon movement who was surprised. And just a little correction, John, they didn't say they could, they said they are. That there is an increased propensity for the use of real-world violence following the lack of action they believe by Donald Trump and -- in order to take over America in a military coup.

So, yes, and they even listed a few terrorist attempts that had happened apart from the Capitol, including the derailing of a train. So this is happening right now.

BERMAN: How far are you worried that they could take it?

JADEJA: Well, if you think about it, their battle in their mind, the nature of this crisis is existential for them. It's not a battle between authoritarian and libertarian, between left and right, between nation states. It's a battle between God and the devil. Literally, it's a battle for their souls, for their children's souls. I mean, if you believe that, if you really believe that, what would you do? What wouldn't you do?

BERMAN: It's terrifying. And I'm always faced with a question, how could you believe it, though? How? How could you believe that? JADEJA: Well, it's a strange thing because sometimes I ask myself the

same thing. But as with any kind of -- fall down any kind of hole, it starts with some small thing and then it ended with another and then it ends with another and then you're all the way down the rabbit hole and you have no idea what to believe and what not to believe. So you want to believe that you're on the right side, that you're fighting for good against injustice. And it's almost like the more disenfranchised you are, the stronger that belief is because of the lack of meaning and purpose in your own life.

BERMAN: I get it. It's still nuts, and I can't think of a better word. I wish I could think of a better word than just nuts, but that's what it is.

[08:45:00]

Part of the issue here also appears to be a belief, the FBI says, that some QAnon followers can no longer trust the plans set forth by Q. That's why they may turn to physical violence.

What do you make of that?

JADEJA: Well, I mean, I think that's -- that's very -- that's very obvious. I mean the motion of some kind of doomsday or apocalyptic cult sort of slowly spiraling into violence is very well studied within the academic literature. It's been like that for 50 years. Essentially what you get is you get sanctions implied by authorities, imposed by authorities, sorry, that go ahead and increase the disenfranchisement and deviancy and withdrawal of a group which further elicits more sanctions and it just spirals into an amplification scenario where eventually it ends in the use of real- world violence.

And it wouldn't take a lot, John, you know, 100 -- there are millions of people who believe in this. The QAnon conference had a million people live streaming a couple of weeks ago. I was watching. And it would only take a hundred people in ten groups of ten around the country to have some sort of northern Ireland-like tribal situation. And then what happens if we did get martial law? Can you imagine that?

BERMAN: Well, look -- I mean, well, yes, I don't -- I don't think we're anywhere near martial law. I mean the reaction of that --

JADEJA: No, we're not.

BERMAN: No, I don't think -- I don't think that's an issue here.

JADEJA: No.

BERMAN: But -- but if you do start to see them enacting more examples of violence, if you do start to see pockets of them rising up, an area of enormous concern.

Jitarth Jadeja, we're going to have to continue this conversation because I have a lot more questions. And I think you need to walk me through a lot more of how to look at this. So I appreciate your time. JADEJA: Any time. Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Just ahead, President Biden gearing up for his high-stakes summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin. The latest live from Geneva.

KEILAR: But, first, Amanda Kloots reflecting on love and loss in her new memoir, honoring her late husband Nick Cordero. She will join us, next.

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[08:50:11]

KEILAR: Last year the world watched as Amanda Kloots documented her husband, Nick Cordero's fight against COVID-19. The Broadway star endured several complications, including a leg amputation, several lung infections and also the placement of a temperature pacemaker. Tragically, Nick Cordero lost his battle on July 5th of 2020. He was one of the nearly 600,000 people who has died since the start of the pandemic.

And joining me now to discuss her new book, "Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero," out today, is Amanda Kloots.

Amanda, you are a celebrity fitness trainer. You're the co-host of CBS' "The Talk." But you are, I think, someone that most Americans, many Americans, know in their hear as the person who grieved so publicly, sought support so publicly as you were struggling for your husband's life as he was struggling for his life. And I just wondered, you know, before we talk about you sharing his story, if you can just tell us a little bit about, you know, how you're doing and how your son is doing.

AMANDA KLOOTS, AUTHOR, "LIVE YOUR LIFE" MY STORY OF LOVING AND LOSING NICK CORDERO": Well, thank you for having me this morning.

We're -- we're good. We're in Laurel Canyon in California and Elvis just celebrated his second birthday. And he's just the spitting image of Nick. And we are just the best of friends. And I just love that little boy so much. And we're doing OK. You know, grief is definitely a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs and twists and turns. But, honestly, I am so grateful for everything that we have still and for every day that I'm here and that I can be with him and be his mom.

KEILAR: I'm sure celebrating that birthday was sweet as well as tough. And looking at him you see your husband. You know, you see the gift that he did leave you.

Tell us a little bit about writing this book, about, you know, this -- this, to me, as I look at you telling this story, it's a continuation of what we saw from you on social media that so many people connected with. Tell us about why this was so important for you to do.

KLOOTS: Well, there's a lot in this book that we couldn't reveal at the time. Things that I was keeping private for my own safety, for Nick's safety, for the hospital's safety. Things that we just didn't want to reveal at the time. And this really, this book really is the full true story of everything that happened that we were dealing with.

And then intermixed with that is Nick and I's love story and how we met and why we moved to California and just trying to survive as a married couple with a new baby. And so you'll read all of these stories in this book.

And I just -- you know, to be honest, I really just wanted to write this down so that I had this story. So that Elvis would have this story. And so that Nick could have this story. And I'm so glad that we did. I don't know if I could write this book now. I wrote it two weeks -- started writing two weeks after Nick passed because everything was just so fresh in my mind. And I'm so glad now that it's just on a page and it could be shared with the world.

KEILAR: And you speak of sharing -- the story being for you and your son, but sharing it with the world. And I think it is something, obviously, that so many people have connected with. The story that we knew before and now what we're learning from your book that is out today.

And you do, you talk about the struggles that I think a lot of people will recognize when it comes to just pushing through with a -- with a marriage and having a beautiful love story as you two did.

Why do you think that people -- why do you think it was so important for you to connect with people during this time as you were, you know, going through the biggest fight of your life?

KLOOTS: Well, you will see when you read this book that the world -- that social media, I called it my army at the time, and they still are to this day, are a character in this book. I could not have gotten through those 95 days with the love, the support, the prayers, the advice from my Instagram army. And I can't honestly thank everyone enough for that love and support.

And you'll read it in this book. I relied on you guys. I relied on your help and your 3:00 p.m. singing every day to lift up my energy and to keep us going. And it really -- I mean it's just, honestly, it's just a crazy experience.

I look -- even in writing this, I was looking back at -- you know, through my archives of, you know, photos and videos and I could not believe -- I mean I know I lived through it, but I couldn't believe the love and support that came our way from the entire world. It is -- it was it is incredible.

[08:55:10]

KEILAR: We're approaching this terrible number of almost 600,000 gone, taken by this virus. And I wonder how you reflect on the pandemic, having lost your husband and his being part of such a huge number.

KLOOTS: It is. It's so crazy, especially as the world is coming back now, which is so wonderful to see. Do not get me wrong, it's wonderful. But you've -- you -- I catch myself all the time being like, what -- what world we were living in just a year ago. How different our lives were just a year ago. How we couldn't go out to eat. We couldn't go to events. I mean things were still locked down. We were still social distancing. And just living a completely different life.

And it has haunted me. It still does. I'm sure it will for a while because we really did go through the worst experience with this virus. And I'll tell you, you just -- I said it when Nick was in the hospital, you do not want this virus. You do not want it to affect your life. I thank God for these vaccines, for the health heroes that are working day in and day out, still, to keep this virus at bay.

KEILAR: Well, Amanda, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us here and in your new book. We appreciate it.

KLOOTS: Thank you. Thank you so much.

KEILAR: And we're back in a -- we're back in a moment.

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