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New Day

New York Attorney General Says, We Found Significant Evidence of Trump Business Fraud; Biden to Face Reporters as He Tries to Reset Presidency; More Americans in Fear Over Crime Spikes, Grisly Murders. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 19, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:01]

KASIE HUNT, CNN NEW DAY: All right, New Day continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Wednesday, January 19th. I'm John Berman, Brianna doing the night thing this week, 9:00 P.M. Eastern Time. Make sure to watch.

HUNT: Don't miss it.

BERMAN: But here with us this week, Special Guest Kasie Hunt. Great to have you.

HUNT: Lovely to see you here in Washington, John.

BERMAN: Yes. We are here in Washington where there's a ton of stuff going on, I have to say, on all fronts.

Breaking overnight, major developments in the civil investigation of Donald Trump's business, the Trump Organization. In a court filing, New York Attorney General Letitia James asserts that they have uncovered significant evidence, those are her words, of what she calls misleading and fraudulent practices by the Trump Organization to obtain economic benefits. This is an escalation in her language and also the first real specifics of some of the wrongdoings she is alleging.

HUNT: James is turning up the heat particularly on Trump's children. She claims that they have been closely involved with the transactions in question. Investigators now taking legal action to compel Ivanka and Don Jr. to comply with subpoenas and appear for sworn testimony about the company's financial dealings. Let's bring in CNN Senior Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Elie Honig and CNN Political Commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin. She was White House Communications Director to President Trump and resigned in December 2020. She has also voluntarily spoken with Republican members of the January 6th committee.

So, let me start with you, Elie. Let's talk a little bit about the January 6th committee's decision to issue the six recent subpoenas, because that's the other piece of this story. You've got on the one hand the Trump A.G -- excuse me, the New York A.G. investigation, but you also have subpoenas of Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle in the January 6th investigation. What does this tell you about the pressure on the Trump family?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it tells me a couple things, Kasie. First of all, with respect to the subpoenas to the four individuals, to the three lawyers and Boris Epshteyn, this tells me that the committee recognizes that there is no way this coup happens without the assistance and accomplice conduct of the lawyers. The lawyers were key parts of this. They abused their discretion as lawyers. They told lies. They spread the big lie. And there is no way this thing really gets off the ground without the lawyers. And it shows me the committee is focused in on that.

With respect to the phone subpoenas relating to Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, that tells me the committee is looking for something specific here. Because, usually, the way you do these phone subpoenas is, early on, you blanket the ground. You get as many phone subpoenas that you can so you can see who is talking to who. They are now significantly down the line.

So, this tells me they're looking for some specific fact, some specific communication involving Eric Trump and/or Kimberly Guilfoyle.

BERMAN: Alyssa, you have spoken to the committee right now. What vision did that give you into what they're looking at here, particularly as you know learn of these phone records that they are going after from Eric Trump and Kimberyly Guilfoyle and these other people.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, great to be with you, guys. So, I've always looked at the committee's investigation as kind of threefold, one, getting at any kind of criminality, potentially, then, secondarily, looking at the financing and the organization behind the Stop the Steal movement and the rally that day, and then, finally, sort of dismantling the big lie.

And these subpoenas kind of factor into all of those. When I see that Kimberly Guilfoyle one, she was, as you will remember, the chair of Trump Victory, a prolific fundraiser, very tied into money networks. So, I think her being involved certainly speaks to wanting to look at the financing of that day and the rally that led up to it.

Now, the lawyers, that's going to be a lot more about this myth that was president to the president that he could overturn the electors, that Pence had the authority to do that. You will remember the memo that Jenna Ellis wrote.

What's interesting to me with the attorneys specifically, is if they will comply with the subpoenas, these individuals will risk being disbarred if they don't, I could imagine. So, even though I expect them to claim privilege, I think that that's pretty thin ground to be on.

HUNT: So, Alyssa, as you look at the probe broadly, I mean, one of the people that has been at the center of it but not yet subpoenaed, is former vice president, Mike Pence. And his cooperation potentially absolutely critical to nailing down exactly what happened that day and former President Trump's role in it. I know there is a major effort behind the scenes to try and organize against a potential Trump 2024 bid.

[07:05:04]

Frankly, the person who might have the most influence over that is Pence himself.

Do you think he is going to cooperate with the committee?

GRIFFIN: So, I've said before, I think if subpoenaed, he will. I'm not sure that he will voluntarily. And I say honestly only looking at how Marc Short went about it. When he was subpoenaed, he agreed to cooperate. And that's because Mike Pence is an institutionalist. I know he believes in the congressional role and oversight but I also don't think he is going to tee himself up for something that will open him up to major, major criticism from a base that he is hoping to win back.

But I'll say this, to Elie's point, listen, if Donald Trump, if any of these investigations go anywhere, which they very well may -- I think the January 6th committee is going to find some really interesting things that show potential criminality and definitely cooperation with individuals, even potentially members of Congress. But I would say this. I think an indicted Donald Trump is still by far the 2024 frontrunner. That's the reality.

And the Republican Party needs to wake up to it. There's still time for that to change and for folks, like a Pence, to really start to win back the party to our core values and get beyond this kind of difficult moment. But as of now, he is the frontrunner regardless of where this goes.

BERMAN: Elie, I have got two questions for you. First, I want to just first wrap up this discussion on the subpoenas from the January 6th committee and then I have a question about these major developments overnight in the New York attorney general's investigation.

First, Kasie brought up the idea of privilege, Alyssa did also. These are all attorneys. I mean, do they have any kind of attorney/client privilege here?

HONIG: Well, they are certainly going to claim that, John. It's actually interesting. It's not settled that Congress even has to observe attorney/client privilege. That is a privilege created by the courts, not the Constitution itself. And there is a precedent for Congress saying, we don't observe attorney/client privilege. That said, they still try to be respectful of it.

However, I'm not sure attorney/client privilege even applies here. First of all, if there were other people involved, if it's more than just the attorney and the client, it's not going to apply. And if the communications we're talking about are potentially criminal or fraudulent, the privilege does not apply.

Now, let's also keep in mind, all of these individuals have the right to take the Fifth. They can do that sort of without qualification, and that would put an end to these subpoenas at least.

BERMAN: You know what, I just thought of a third question here so I'm holding the floor. I'm filibustering here since the Senate still allows that.

HUNT: I yield the floor.

BERMAN: Elie, just one last question on January 6th. When you start going after family and kids, you know the political implications of that. So, if they are doing phone records from Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, that they must know this is a big deal, yes?

HONIG: Yes, John. You are aware of that as a prosecutor and investigator. You never want to, you never should target family, spouses, kids, just to do it just as a pressure tactic. You only do that if you're a good prosecutor, if you have a very specific and very relevant reason for it.

BERMAN: And then, finally, since I'm still with the floor here, thank you, Joe Manchin, the New York attorney's office, Elie. Letitia James, the New York A.G., put out this statement overnight. This is in response to a court filing, but she said she has solid evidence in the civil case here of fraudulent and misleading activity from the Trump Organization.

HONIG: Yes, John. In the civil case, this is a significant escalation. And I think a real cause for concern for the Trump Organization and the Trump family, this filing that came out just before midnight really gives us by far the most depth and detail that we have seen on this allegation that we have heard for years now about the overvaluation of these assets. And let me tell you, this is mega fraud. That's not a legal term but this is mega fraud. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, preposterous overstatements of what these properties are worth, according to the attorney general's filing.

But this is really important. This is happening on the civil side. We're talking lawsuits here, not prosecutions. That's a separate question. And, in fact, Letitia James is very careful about the words she chooses. She says that the members of the Trump family were, quote, involved, involved. That's the word she uses over and over again. That is very different than being able to prove criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt. In fact, the attorney general says, the reason we need to do these depositions, your honor, is because we don't exactly know the intent. We need to question them about their intent. So, big steps on the civil side, but I would be very careful about drawing conclusions on the criminal side.

BERMAN: All right, Elie Honig, Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you both very much.

HUNT: All right. Coming up later today, President Biden is set to hold his news conference in months, and on the eve of his first anniversary in office. It comes as his presidency and the country struggling, facing a third year of the pandemic, record inflation, his signature legislative agenda stalled in Congress and plenty more.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live at the White House with more.

[07:10:02]

Jeff, good morning to you.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kasie.

On the final day of President Biden's first year in office, that air of confidence that swept him into the Oval Office has given way to a sense of frustration and party divisions. But all of that, of course, will be on the table later today when President Biden holds his first news conference here at the White House in ten months. He is expected to tout his accomplishments for sure.

I'm also told he will acknowledge setbacks directly as he tries to reboot for the second year that starts tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge and unity is the path forward.

ZELENY (voice over): As President Biden enters his second year in office, that unity is elusive with the very same crisis and challenge still burning red hot and complicating his path forward. The optimism from Biden's inaugural address --

BIDEN: Bringing America together --

ZELENY: Tempered by the bitter reality of a Capitol and a nation even more divided, and a president scrambling to find his footing.

From an unrelenting pandemic, to stubborn inflation, to dangerous threats to democracy at home and across the globe, the White House is trying to reset and restore a floundering presidency. Election reform on the cusp of failing in the Senate, the latest example of the limits of presidential power in today's Washington, where Republicans are loathe to cooperate and Democrats with a razor-thin majority struggle to compromise. JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's been a lot of progress made. We need to build on that. The work is not done. The job is not done. And we are certainly not conveying it is.

ZELENY: Still in March, Biden signed $1.9 trillion American rescue plan to ease the economic fallout from COVID-19. And months later, a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, a landmark accomplishment that has eluded presidents of both parties.

BIDEN: Despite the cynics, Democrats and Republicans can come together and deliver results.

ZELENY: But that bipartisan bridge did not extend to the second part of his economic agenda, the Build Back Better plan, stalled in the Senate and facing an uphill road in this midterm election year. But above all, top White House officials concede the first year of the Biden presidency has been complicated and consumed by coronavirus. Remarkable gains were made on vaccines but the president's summertime declaration of success proved utterly premature.

BIDEN: It no longer controls our lives. It no longer paralyzes our nation. And it's within our power to make sure it never does again.

ZELENY: A fall wave of the delta variant, followed by winter surge of omicron, laid bare the failures in COVID testing and eroded confidence in the administration's grasp of the crisis.

BIDEN: It's clearly not enough. If I had made known we would have gone harder and quicker if we could.

ZELENY: On the world stage, Biden reassured allies after the whiplash of the Trump era.

BIDEN: America is back.

ZELENY: Yet the prospect of a new cold war is now an urgent. That was not apparent during Biden' summit with Vladimir Putin in June, which focused on cyberattacks, a threat overshadowed by Russia' aggression toward Ukraine.

BIDEN: Look ahead in three to six months and say did the things we agreed to sit down and try to work out, did it work?

ZELENY: Biden sought to reset the Russian relationship. Now, Putin is testing Biden and western allies.

For all the challenges outside any president's control, one of the most devastating periods of Biden's first year was a decision that he made and stands behind.

BIDEN: I was not going to extend this forever war and I was extending a forever exit.

ZELENY: The swift fall of the Afghanistan government and the chaotic evacuation that followed, including 13 Americans killed in a suicide bombing, raised critical questions about competence, that Biden and his team still struggle to shake six months later.

BIDEN: I take responsibility for the decision.

ZELENY: Yet, taking responsibility marks a noted change between Biden and his predecessor, who looms even larger one year out of office. That point was clear on the anniversary of the Capitol attack.

BIDEN: He's not just a former president. He's a defeated former president.

ZELENY: And that, advisers say, is a glimpse into Biden's current mindset. He is no longer ignoring Trump and his assault on democracy. The outcome of the second year will help shape how Biden answers the biggest question of all, likely by this time next year, will he run again?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (on camera): And President Biden, of course, spent much of the day yesterday preparing for this news conference coming later today. The questions, of course, in many cases, are obvious. COVID still hangs as a weight around his neck. He knows that more than anything else. Also happening at the same time, the failure of the voting rights bill just a couple hours after the news conference.

So, this obviously offers the president a chance to restore confidence in his administration and will give us a sense if he plans any indication of how he will reboot or how he sees all of this.

[07:15:11]

He's been around Washington a long time, a seasoned president, the most of any we've seen. What does he want to do differently? Maybe we will get a sense of that later today. John and Kasie?

HUNT: Indeed. All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks very for that. Quite a reminder of that mission accomplished moment as well in Jeff's piece from last summer.

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now, that laugh from off-camera belongs to CNN Senior Political Commentator and Host of the Axe Files, David Axelrod. He is a senior adviser to President Obama.

And, David, you have been through this type of thing before?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I have, yes. I'm having PTSD, because this is not a very hospitable when things are not going well. The echo chamber is so loud and so disruptive and everyone is very generous with their advice. And it's tough and you have to keep your bearings and recognize this is a point in time, he has gone through a bad stretch here.

We don't know where we're going to be six months from now but you have to draw some lessons from mistakes that have been made over the last year.

HUNT: And what are the lessons you would have drawn?

AXELROD: Well, one is don't overclaim, as you guys were pointing out. You have to kind of link up with where the country is. I mean, we are in the third winter of our discontent. And so, yes, hundreds of millions of people have been vaccinated but we are still mired in a virus that we thought would be behind us. Unemployment is down 40 percent, from 6.4 to 3.9 percent, but inflation is at a 40-year high. And that's what people are feeling in their lives. And you have to be aware of that, so when you claim success, claim it with humility or you run into problems.

The other element is don't set up tests you can't pass. And some of this involve Congress, which is a big dark hole to wander into. As you know, you've covered --

HUNT: I've spent some time there.

AXELROD: -- for years. So, don't set up legislative goals that are beyond your reach, and so doing, look like you failed, even as you've had some big legislative achievement.

BERMAN: Third winter of our discontent with the slings and arrows, to continue the metaphor there, coming fast and furious. David, don't set up goals you can't achieve. So, what goals can he achieve? What are the things that he should accomplish and point to?

AXELROD: John, I think most people aren't sitting there at their kitchen table checking off his list of accomplishments. What they are doing is looking at their grocery list and wondering how much that is going to cost. They are wondering whether their kid is going to be able to go back to school. And what I think is more important than anything is that he conveyed that he is engaged in the challenges that people are facing in their daily lives and doing everything that he can to try and help and acknowledge where there have been shortfalls. There have been disappointments. Testing is a disappointment. Don't try and deny what hasn't gone well. Talk about how you're going to fix it and how you're going to move forward and give people a sense that their concerns are your concerns.

HUNT: David, they're spending today voting on voting rights, a push that we know is doomed because Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema won't vote to change the rules in the Senate. Many times, we have heard that.

BERMAN: Let's ask Manchin if he'll change his mind.

HUNT: We have heard that over and over again, indeed. What is your sense of why now, why are they putting energy into this, what does it get them in terms of -- I mean, just the pure politics of this? I mean, I is it -- I realize that they say it's absolutely critically important to the country but it really just sets them up publicly for another failure. So, why are they doing it?

AXELROD: It is also absolutely important to the base of the Democratic Party. And, you know, I think that was the impetus behind the speech in Georgia last week, which I think was a mistake, or at least the tone was a mistake. But there are certainly a lot of Democrats who are deeply, deeply concerned about what's going on in the states relative to voting. The whole country should be, particularly the nullification aspects of what's going on, the idea that the votes might not be counted as they should be counted. But it's a nod to the base of the party that is demanding this.

And we should add that Senator Schumer is as determined to have this vote as anybody, and he's got his own concerns in New York. He doesn't want a challenge from the left in a primary because he wasn't sufficiently committed to voting rights. So, there is a lot of politics swirling around this.

BERMAN: David Axelrod, great to see you.

AXELROD: Good to see you guys.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

HUNT: Always great to see you.

AXELROND: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. We have live pictures to show you. There we go. That's live.

HUNT: There he is.

BERMAN: That's Boris Johnson. These are the prime minister's questions in the House of Commons. This is a big one. He is going to be grilled.

[07:20:00]

HUNT: I really have always wished we had this in the United States. Can I just say that?

BERMAN: Do you?

HUNT: Yes. It's awesome. It's politics on display. They yell at each other. In this case, it's going to be about boozy parties. It's amazing.

BERMAN: This is going to be about his political future. There are people who think he might not last, and he has to face that music on the floor right now.

In meantime, Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ukraine amid fears of a Russian invasion. So, what is the latest status of the tensions there?

HUNT: Plus, more Americans living in fear as crime spikes across the country. Is it warranted or is it a perception of fear, as the New York's mayor suggests? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HUNT: The murder rate in the U.S. Exploded in 2020, up 30 percent from 2019, according to the CDC. That was the largest single-year increase in a century.

[07:25:02]

And the numbers have continued to rise in 2021, along with other types of crime, creating something of a culture of fear in many places across America. But is that fear driven by perception or reality?

Brynn Gingras with a close look at crime in America. What do we know?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kasie, good morning. Saying it's a perception of fear is what got New York City Mayor Eric Adams a bit of criticism. He walked back his comments, saying he gets people here don't feel safe on the subways after a horrific killing happening on the Times Square tracks over the weekend. But a spike in crime in what to do about it is something new. Mayors, district attorneys, police commissioners, council members in major cities are facing pressure to get a handle on it right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS (voice over): Vigils coast-to-coast after a 40-year-old woman was pushed in front of an incoming New York City subway train over the weekend. Michelle Alyssa Go was waiting on the Times Square's subway platform when a man killed her in an unprovoked attack. 69-year-old Simon Marshall turned himself in and has been charged with second- degree murder. He has not yet entered a plea.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): We're going to drive down crime and we're going to make sure New Yorkers feel safe in our subway system. And they don't feel that way now. I don't feel that way when I take the train every day or when I'm moving throughout our transportation system. That is our battle.

GINGRAS: In the first two weeks of 2022, robberies, felony assaults and grand larcenies are up in New York City from the previous year. Murders are down. In Los Angeles, 24-year-old Brianna Kupfer was fatally stabbed while working at local furniture store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A radiant human being who cared deeply about not just herself and her family and friends but also everything around here. I don't see us healing anytime soon. I would love to tell you that there's going to be a point we're going to be better. But I feel like it's just going to be a big missing piece.

GINGRAS: Police said they have identified 31-year-old Shawn Laval Smith in connection with the crime. Authorities were able to identify him from surveillance video taken from a nearby convenience store.

And also in Los Angeles, police say a 70-year-old nurse was the victim of an unprovoked attack at a bus station. She fell back and hit her head and later died at the hospital where she worked as an E.R. nurse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is just a beautiful person, just beautiful inside and out. It hurts so bad just to think about happened to her. It's hard for me to hold back the tears.

GINGRAS: Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore attributes these two high-profile crimes to difficulties treating mental health and homelessness in the city.

Cases of gun violence also seen over the weekend. In Oregon, six people were shot outside a concert. The suspect is still at large. And in Chicago, the police department announced that over three days, 38 people were shot, five fatally. According to the FBI, nationwide homicides increased 29 percent in 2020 and another 7 percent in 2021, according to Datalytics. Gun violence has been on a steady rise since 2014.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS (on camera): Yes. And back here in New York, when it comes to subway safety, which, of course, is key to this city's recovery, the governor and mayor say they have a plan to deploy more police presence and mental health personnel to address the homeless crisis. But, of course, John and Kasie, this is not going to be an easy fix no matter what city you're in.

HUNT: For sure. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much for that report. We really appreciate it.

And joining us now, CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone. So, it's always great to see you. Thank you so much for being here.

We actually want to talk to you about crime on the streets here, and the mayor, in particular, of New York, who said that this was more a perception than a reality. Do you agree?

MICHAEL FANONE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I've got to respectfully disagree with the mayor in those statements. I mean, clearly, there has been a significant increase in crime. I mean, as a police officer, I witnessed it not just in this past year, the year before, but in the last four or five years leading up to 2022. We've seen like a staggering increase in both property and violent crimes.

When I look at the causes of that, I guess police officer inside of me immediately would point to a decrease in proactive policing, whether that's because police officers are prevented from doing so by new legislation, departmental policies, a lack of confidence in their training and leadership, fear of assassination or indifference to the job, which resulted from years of intense scrutiny and angry rhetoric directed at them by members of the media, the public and politicians.

I would also point to state and district prosecutors who decided to publicly decriminalize crimes that they deem as minor infractions. That has created an environment where the individuals committing these crimes feel emboldened.

[07:30:01]