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Trump Aids Drafted 2 Orders to Seize Voting Machines; GOP Candidate to Voters: Be Prepared to 'Lock and Load' at Polls; Blinken, Lavrov to Speak as Moscow Responds to U.S. Demands; Pandemic Politics Sparks Shortage of School Superintendents. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 01, 2022 - 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 with Brianna Keilar.

[05:59:38]

On this NEW DAY. ripped up and taped back together, literally. That's how some Trump White House documents were handed over to the January 6th Committee. A new report that Donald Trump himself directed a request to look into seizing voting machines.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And hours from now, a high-stakes phone call. Secretary of State Tony Blinken will speak with his Russian counterpart after Russia and the U.S. clashed at the U.N. Will talks finally put an end to the Ukraine crisis?

And a series of bomb threats have been reported at several historically black colleges and universities across the country. Why is this happening? And what is the FBI doing about it?

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, February 1. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

And we do begin with a CNN exclusive. Advisers to Donald Trump drafted more than one executive order to seize voting machines during the former president's final weeks in office.

There was one order for the Pentagon. We knew about that. And another for Homeland Security. We are just learning about the Homeland Security request for the first time.

In addition to that, this eye-opening reporting from "The New York Times" breaking overnight that Trump himself was directly involved. Quote, "President Donald J. Trump directed his lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, to make a remarkable call. Mr. Trump wanted him to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could legally take control of voting machines in key swing states."

KEILAR: Some of the White House records that were turned over to the January 6th Committee arrived torn up, reports indicating that it was Trump who personally ripped them to pieces. They had to be taped back together by National Archives staffers. And sources tell CNN that Marc Short, the former chief of staff to

former Vice President Mike Pence, testified before the House Select Committee last week in response to a subpoena, the most significant sign to date that Pence's team is cooperating with the probe.

Katelyn Polantz is in Washington with our top story, which is, of course, these executive orders. More than one, Kaitlan. What can you tell us?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The big news here is that President Donald Trump in office was interested, in the final days of his presidency, in considering and potentially did show a lot of interest to seize voting machines using the federal government to do that.

So, this would be the receipts, theoretically, that the House Select Committee is looking for.

We learned about one of these documents a few weeks ago when the National Archives was turning over records, that there was a draft executive order to the Pentagon to seize voting machines. And now this new reporting from my colleagues last night that there was a second one of these draft executive orders for the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, this didn't happen. Trump didn't sign off on these executive orders, Brianna. But this is the sort of thing that the House Select Committee is very interested in, because they are looking at whether Trump and others around him were trying to use federal government agencies to have him wrongfully keep hold of the presidency.

BERMAN: Yes. This is actively coup curious, the idea of making phone calls to agencies to even discuss seizing voting machines. That is something the January 6th Committee is sure to be interested in.

So Katelyn, the National Archives says that some of the documents that the committee now has had been ripped up and put back together? What's going on here?

POLANTZ: Right. So the sources I've talked to have said, well, this was just a quirk of the Trump presidency. When CNN did ask about this, related to the documents that the House Select Committee was getting, the Archives said, they asserted that they believed it was Trump himself that did this. We don't know if it was Trump himself who ripped these up.

But the bottom line here is that these are federal records. These aren't scraps of paper. These are not tissues. They were records that were being maintained by the White House. There was a reason to maintain them for historical purposes of the presidency. And that these are the documents that Trump himself was trying to hold back to protect the secrecy of what was going on in the White House up to and around January 6th.

KEILAR: How many pieces torn up into? Do we know? POLANTZ: We don't at the time. But there were 700 or more documents that Trump was trying to hold back that the Archives turned over. So it could be many. It could be the key ones. You never know. But the House is looking at them.

KEILAR: All right. Katelyn, thank you for the reporting.

BERMAN: This morning, a Republican candidate for state Senate in Michigan is under fire for saying people should be prepared to, quote, "show up armed" at polling places.

Laura Jarrett, "EARLY START" anchor and attorney at law, joins us now. What's going on here?

LAURA JARRETT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": John, it was a brazen call to arms, all caught on camera, raising serious questions this morning about Mike Detmer's fitness for office.

As you are about to see, it all started at an event when an unidentified man raises a question at this GOP meet and greet with Detmer and another candidate running for governor. They're asked specifically about what can be done about all these Republican observers being pushed out of rooms where ballots are being counted.

There's no evidence that that happened, by the way.

But in any event, watch what Detmer, the man in [SIC] the left on [SIC] the gray sweater, says about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can we do to prepare for that event that's going to occur again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got thoughts unless you want to say anything there? Willing to share?

MIKE DETMER (R), MICHIGAN STATE SENATE CANDIDATE: Are you armed? I say that -- I say that in all seriousness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can be.

DETMER: The Second Amendment isn't there for hunting rights; it's not there for self-defense. The Second Amendment is there, the founders put it there, to protect all the others. The ideal thing is to do this peacefully. That's ideal. But the American people, at some point in time, if we can't change the tide, we need to be prepared to lock and load.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: "Lock and load. That line, again, from a man who wants to be a state senator, now drawing a pointed response from the state's attorney general, who said this:

"Unauthorized personnel tampering with election devices and the use of firearms to intimidate voters is illegal. Engaging in such conduct will result in arrest and prosecution."

But it's worth noting here that Michigan actually tried to ban firearms at polling places ahead of the 2020 election, but a state court judge blocked that ban.

CNN has reached out to Detmer, the candidate, but hasn't heard back.

BERMAN: All right. Alarming rhetoric there. Laura Jarrett, thank you very much for that.

JARRETT: Sure.

BERMAN: Joining us now, former Philadelphia city commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican. He's now the president and CEO of the Committee of 70.

Al, always a pleasure to speak with you. I'm going to get to the Michigan event in a second. But first, the breaking news overnight. Requests made, these executive orders drafted for the Pentagon and then also Homeland Security to seize voting machines. It didn't happen.

And then the reporting that Donald Trump himself asked Rudy Giuliani to check with Homeland Security if it could seize voting machines. As a guy who was overseeing things like voting machines, how does that make you feel?

AL SCHMIDT, PRESIDENT/CEO, COMMITTEE OF 70: It's certainly concerning that anything of this magnitude would have ever been seriously considered by people in a position of responsibility and authority in the United States government.

In America, as we know or should know, it's our voters who decide who wins and who loses, not -- not specific people in power who are sort of peddling lies, because they can't accept that they lost.

KEILAR: It wasn't carried out, we should point out. I wonder if you think that matters, if it was prepared. And you have here two EO's to our awareness, including DOD and DHS. Does it matter that these weren't carried out?

SCHMIDT: Yes, I think it's very important that it's documented, that these conversations occurred, that there were steps taken, even if not sort of carried out, at the -- in the White House and among people in positions of authority to carry them out, if -- if they had been given the order to do so.

It's -- it's something I think that the January 6th Committee is doing a great job looking into. And we wouldn't know about hardly any of this if it weren't for the good work that they're doing.

BERMAN: So, Al, this story out of Michigan where you have the state Senate candidate calling on people to show up armed to polling places. This is something with which you have some personal experience. Explain.

SCHMIDT: It's an example of the sort of dangerous escalation of rhetoric that we're seeing around elections right now.

The language itself isn't entirely new. The first death threat that I received was using very similar terms: You are what the Second Amendment is for, corrupt election administrators like you. You're going to get what's coming to you.

It's that there's a big difference between some creep sitting home on his sofa fired up, calling in and leaving a voice mail threat in the dark of night and someone who is running for public office, speaking into a microphone in front of a group of people, and doing this in the light of day.

KEILAR: What's the effect on people who, you know, normally they just go to vote. They don't worry about these kinds of things. How does this affect those folks?

SCHMIDT: People should not worry about these sort of things. They should be excited to exercise their right to vote and not be concerned about intimidation, not be concerned about threats of violence or anything like that. Neither the voters nor the election workers who work a very long day.

In Pennsylvania, we have both in-person voting on election day and vote by mail. And the people responsible for this need to be able to carry it out in a -- in a safe environment where they can focus on their job, which is to make sure our voters' votes get counted.

BERMAN: You use the word "intimidation." Is that the concern here?

[06:10:00]

SCHMIDT: It is, because if this continues -- and the Brennan Center report that was released not that long ago pointed to it -- the number of election administrators who are leaving their positions to -- because of dealing with threats and all sorts of other things. These are typically very mundane jobs, but they're very important jobs. And it requires a lot of experience to do them right.

And if we lose experienced election administrators who believe in democracy, and they're replaced by people who don't know what they're doing or hold anti-democratic positions, then that puts us in a very dangerous position.

KEILAR: Al, over the weekend Trump put out a statement where he was saying that he wanted Mike Pence to overturn the election results. And also he said facely SIC] -- falsely, essentially, that Mike Pence could have done that.

This is an admission. What's your reaction to that?

SCHMIDT: It is. And it's also an indication of why we need to reform the Electoral Count Act. Not because Mike Pence -- Vice President Pence ever had the authority to do it to begin with, but rather because some people, in their deranged outlook, believe that -- that he did. So to make very clear what should be clear to all Americans, which is

that our voters votes determine the outcome, not -- not any specific person, least of all a person whose name is on the ballot. To make that perfectly clear, it makes sense that the Electoral Reform Act should be revised.

BERMAN: The former president also dangled the idea of pardoning people involved in the January 6th insurrection. What do you think the impact will be on the investigation?

SCHMIDT: Well, I mean, what's really needed here when it comes to threats and when comes to actual physical manifestations of -- of violence, is that people be held accountable.

And as we see on January 6th, the federal government and law enforcement is beginning to hold those people accountable. We haven't seen that when it comes to election officials very much, but accountability is the key.

And when you're dangling the idea of a pardon, that you could do things as bad as this and just get away with it, is -- is trying to remove the element of accountability, which is so important.

BERMAN: Al Schmidt, as always, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

SCHMIDT: Thank you.

BERMAN: This morning we have a new CNN report, why school superintendents are fed up and resigning across the country, creating a major shortage.

Plus, a crucial phone call about to take place over the Ukraine crisis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Russian foreign minister. Is this the last chance to ward off an invasion?

KEILAR: And ahead, you've never experienced road rage like this. Wild dash cam video captures a man shooting his gun out the window. How this dispute ended.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:33]

KEILAR: Hours from now Secretary of State Tony Blinken will hold high- stakes talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, amid concerns of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And this comes after a heated exchange erupted in front of the U.N. Monday between U.S. and Russian diplomats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VASILY NEBENZYA, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N. (through translator): Since our American colleagues convened us today, let them show us any evidence, apart from bogus narratives, that Russia is intending to attack Ukraine.

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: If Russia further invades Ukraine, none of us will be able to say we didn't see it coming. And the consequences will be horrific.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The Kremlin also now saying that there has been a mix-up and that it is still preparing its main reply to the U.S. proposal for deescalating tensions at the Ukrainian border.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is live for us at the State Department, and Nic Robertson live for us in Moscow. What, Kylie, is the State Department saying about this mix-up thing?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the State Department hasn't responded this morning to the Kremlin saying that there was a mix-up about this written response that they gave to the Biden administration.

But what the State Department said yesterday is that they had received a written follow-up from Russia. They didn't characterize it as response. They didn't characterize it as a proposal. And they said that they would leave it up to Russia to characterize what they had given the United States.

This is a delicate, diplomatic dance that the two countries are in right now. And it is largely unfolding in public, which is really unique. Because a lot of times these diplomatic back-and-forths, these documents that might be traded between countries, happen behind closed doors.

But what Russia did by initially presenting their proposal in front of the public in December is that they have brought this to the public eye. And so there is a very, very close look at what these responses to one another look like.

Now, thus far, they haven't gotten these two countries anywhere. And so that is why this conversation today between Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is incredibly important to watch; to see if the United States can lure Russia into buying their argument that there is room for the two countries to engage in productive diplomacy where both sides can walk away with something that they think is good for the security of their country; and, of course, with the main goal of deescalating the situation along the Russia/Ukraine border, which Russia has shown no signals of deescalating thus far.

BERMAN: So Nic, you know, when is this main reply from Russia expected? And what more is it going to say?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's expected when President Putin thinks it's the right time to announce it. That's what the Kremlin spokesman said today.

I think today we get a couple of insights into what's going on. Obviously, the phone call between Secretary Blinken and Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister here. And the state news agency is reporting here that the main topic of the conversation is going to be America's response to Russia's proposals. We know the letter that came in here, delivered by the U.S. ambassador last week to the Russian foreign ministry. That's going to be the main topic of conversation.

And the state news agency goes on to say -- and this is important, I think, here -- that the foreign minister, Lavrov, may make some comments to the press after that phone call. Potential opportunity for insight into what Putin is thinking.

But perhaps the biggest opportunity for insight into what Putin is thinking but maybe not the full list of -- of the response, today President Putin is meeting with the -- with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, perhaps the friendliest European leader towards Putin. They're having a meeting, a working lunch, and then a press conference.

[06:20:19]

And the Kremlin spokesman said he would expect a question about Russia's response to the U.S. letter to come up. Now, he didn't say that Putin is going to answer it, but he said the question he would expect to come up -- John.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be paying attention. Hopefully, to get an answer to that question. Nic Robertson, Kylie Atwood, thank you.

Up next, states are seeing an uptick in superintendent turnover. So what is behind the sudden shortage? And how much does politics play a role?

BERMAN: Plus, offensive, insulting, that's what Senator Ted Cruz thinks about the president's promise to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:14]

BERMAN: This morning, a shortage of school superintendents. Resignations are on the rise because of all the disputes involving mask mandates and vaccines.

CNN's Leyla Santiago has the story from Miami. Leyla, just when we need them the most.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly the point, John.

A third of the 25 largest school districts in the country now searching for superintendents. I spoke to the once-superintendent of the tenth largest school district in the U.S. That's here in south Florida, Palm Beach County. He only served three of the five years in his contract. He left early. And he's not alone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD FENNOY, FORMER SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT, PALM BEACH COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: My office is --

SANTIAGO (voice-over): Donald Fennoy craved stress-free moments like this for months. The now former school superintendent of Palm Beach County stepped down 16 months into the pandemic. He wanted to spend more time with family --

FENNOY: Come on, buddy.

SANTIAGO: -- less time with this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop trying to incite division among us!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We reserve the authority to fire all of you including you, Doctor Fennoy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're absolutely just as bad as some of those Nazi generals.

FENNOY: We'll be having school tomorrow.

SANTIAGO: Dr. Fennoy expected the superintendent job to include some tough days, but not like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Behave yourselves or I'll have you removed.

SANTIAGO: Not the hostility, stress, exhaustion, the threats that came with the politics of COVID-19.

(on camera): Did that happen to you?

FENNOY: Oh, God yes. Oh, yes. Yes, I had letters sent here. I've had security teams. You know, this is -- this is just -- this is the new reality, right?

SANTIAGO (voice-over): A new reality that fueled his decision to resign. A growing number of superintendents are now leaving the job because of pressure from the pandemic and the political divide, especially as it relates to masks, vaccines and critical race theory, according to the School Superintendent Association.

DR. MICHAEL HINOJOSA, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: These cultural wars are wearing people out. I have friends that tell me, this job, they didn't sign up for this.

SANTIAGO: Dealing with COVID was a crisis, Fennoy says, that had no playbook and at times contradicting national and state response strategies. It all took a toll.

FENNOY: I came home from -- from the board meeting, and I was in my office. And my daughter said, "Daddy, it's time to eat." So I stood up, and next thing I remember, they were standing over me, screaming and yelling, right? So I passed out. And I tried to brush it off. And it scared me. DAN DOMENECH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS

ASSOCIATION: It's alarming, no question about it.

SANTIAGO: A recent survey found nearly two-thirds of the superintendents who responded considered quitting during the 2020/2021 school year. And Dan Domenech points out that there was already a shortage of superintendents before the pandemic.

DOMENECH: I can tell you that I've been in this business for 54 years, and I have never experienced what we're experiencing today.

SANTIAGO: There is no national system keeping tabs on the turnover, but organizations tracking superintendents in Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Wyoming, Kansas and Idaho told us they're seeing more superintendents leave their positions now, compared to the pre- pandemic school years.

DOMENECH: This is a time where you need experienced leaders.

SANTIAGO: Experienced leaders whose roles continue to expand beyond the traditional scope of management.

FENNOY: We're social workers. We're pastors. I mean, a school system does everything now. It's hard, when up to be, you know, medical professionals. That was -- you know, that was the hardest part about COVID, when I was asked to make decisions about medical -- as my kids love to tell me, I'm not a real doctor.

SANTIAGO: One of the largest education leadership search firms in the country told CNN it's seeing fewer people wanting to go into school superintendency right now.

FENNOY: I think the first they're doing is looking at YouTube videos of board meetings. Think about that. You have candidates looking at board meetings to see if I even want to deal with that.

SANTIAGO: All part of that new reality for superintendents, Fennoy says, a reality that has resulted in more superintendents leaving school districts still struggling across the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANTIAGO: And politics and masks have become such a part of the conversation when it comes to superintendents. Case in point, just last week in the Miami-Dade School Board meeting, where they were interviewing superintendent candidates, they were specifically asked about the politics out of Tallahassee and masks, and how they would make decisions moving forward -- John.

BERMAN: Look, I don't think any superintendent going into the job thinks it's going to be easy or even wants it to be easy. They just want it to be safe.

SANTIAGO: Right.

BERMAN: And sustainable. SANTIAGO: Right. It's not a lot to ask for.

BERMAN: Leyla, terrific report. Thank you so much.

So, new reporting that Donald Trump's grip on the Republican Party is facing new strains.

Plus, Whoopi Goldberg apologizing for what she said about the Holocaust.

KEILAR: And ahead, road rage.

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