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Trump White House Aide Set to Testify at January 6th Hearing; 46 Migrants Found Dead Inside Abandoned Truck in San Antonio; Anti- Abortion Activists Eye Medication Abortion as Next Target. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired June 28, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hearing here in six hours to present recently obtained evidence and at least one surprise witness who has been central to their investigation.

[07:00:07]

It is Cassidy Hutchinson, we have learned, a former top aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: She has already delivered some of the most dramatic moments of videotaped testimony identifying the names of Republican lawmakers she said were asking about pardons, discussing conversations surrounding the illegality of the election scheme. Hutchinson can also reportedly confirm accounts with Trump reacting approvingly to the chants of hang Mike Pence.

So, we have also learned that federal agents seized John Eastman's cell phone last week. This is video of the incident as it unfolded. Eastman is the chief architect of the scheme to install fake electors in order to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

KEILAR: And Kristen Holmes is joining us now from Washington. Kristen, this is going to be a big day, unexpected and significant.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Cassidy Hutchinson has long been considered one of the most consequential witnesses for the January 6th committee due to her proximity to Trump's former Chief of staff Mark Meadows and, therefore, to critical events and conversations surrounding January 6.

Now, the committee has not released the topic of today's hearing, but this rush to get this hearing happening today shows you just how important they believe this testimony could be.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice over): Her testimony has rattled Capitol Hill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you aware of any members of Congress seeking pardons?

HOLMES: Once a top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson is now a key witness in the House January 6 committee's investigation, giving hours of testimony in multiple sessions.

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Brooks, I know both advocated for there to be a blanket pardon for members involved in that meeting, and a handful of other members that weren't at the December 21st meeting as the preemptive pardons.

Mr. Biggs did. Mr. Gohmert asked for one as well. Mr. Perry asked for a pardon too.

HOLMES: Hutchinson worked closely with Meadows in the White House, sitting in on meetings and at times serving as a liaison between the former president's right hand and those seeking to reach him.

Representatives Biggs and Perry have denied seeking pardons. Hutchinson's unique access proving critical.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you hear the White House Counsel's Office say that this plan to have alternate electors meet and cast votes for Donald Trump in states that he had lost was not legally sound?

HUTCHINSON: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And who was present for that meeting that you remember?

HUTCHINSON: It was in our offices, Mr. Meadows, Mr. Giuliani, and Mr. Giuliani's associates.

MARK MEADOWS, FMR. WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, hello, deplorables.

HOLMES: Meadows, who now refuses to be interviewed by the House select committee once provided thousands of text messages in the early stages of the investigation, showing him at the center of Trump's lies about the 2020 election and playing a lead role in attempting to stop Biden's certification on January 6, events and conversations Hutchinson had a front row seat to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who do you remember being involved in those early discussions around the Thanksgiving time, regarding having alternate electors meet?

HUTCHINSON: Mr. Giuliani, several of Mr. Giuliani's associates, Mr. Meadows, members of Congress, although it's difficult to distinguish if the members I'm thinking of were involved during Thanksgiving or if they were involved as it progressed through December.

HOLMES: According to the committee, Hutchinson also testified that Meadows had been directly warned the events of January 6th could turn violent. Hutchinson has a history in Republican politics. Now in her 20s, she previously worked for other high-profile conservatives, including Ted Cruz and Steve Scalise. Earlier this morning, Hutchinson dropping her Trump world attorney for an ally former Attorney General and Trump punching bag Jeff Sessions, fueling speculation Hutchinson would appear live before the committee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (on camera): Now, sources have told CNN that at least some of the secrecy around her live testimony is because there are real concerns for Hutchinson's safety given what she has told the committee, so, again, highlighting the importance of what they believe this information holds.

KEILAR: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you for that.

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now, CNN Political Analyst and Senior Political Correspondent for The New York Times Maggie Haberman.

Maggie, this is intriguing today, because, A, it wasn't on the schedule, B, we only learned it was Cassidy Hutchinson last night, and I think, C, I think we've all expected that she was going to testify at some point. So, why this surprise, unscheduled, all of a sudden, it's happening today?

[07:05:00]

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You're asking the $64 million question, John. We don't know the answer to that. Why was this so important? Why today, why the rush on a week where members had said they were happy to have this break because they needed to catch up, because they had learned so much new evidence -- amassed so much new evidence and spoken to witnesses and so forth.

SHE was always expected to testify at one of the final hearings, if not, the final hearing, about what Donald Trump was doing during this riot. Why they are now having her come forward now, especially after you heard testimony of hers played, where she talked about requests for pardons from House members and some of those House members denied it, could it relate to that? We're going to find out.

KEILAR: She switched lawyers, right, moving away from Trump world. Does that perhaps play into this?

HABERMAN: I think it's certainly of note that she, you know, was working with somebody who had come recommended to her by former Trump aides when, clearly, the committee was pressing for more, under this current setup with her new lawyer, they reached an agreement for public testimony, and it seems like they did it pretty quickly.

BERMAN: Yes. And, again, we just don't know which is what makes it so interesting as we sit here now. But let's remind people exactly who she is. Mark Meadows' chief of staff, so she was around a lot.

HABERMAN: Right. She was -- I don't know her title was actually chief of staff but she was a top aide for Mark Meadows and she was present for a number of meetings, both before and after the election. And she has provided the committee with -- believe it was more than 20 hours of testimony, might have been much larger than that, over three subpoenaed sessions, in which she described hearing Meadows -- she was asked anyway, Meadows describing to colleagues, Trump approvingly reacting to the hang Mike Pence chants.

I understand she was asked about Meadow's penchant -- alleged penchant for burning documents in his office fireplace, the chief of staff's office has a very large fireplace, conversations that Meadows had with a deputy about the potential for violence. And so all of those are only the things that we know about so far. If you're talking about 20 hours of testimony, you have to understand there's a lot more.

KEILAR: We'll always, say, oh to be the fly on the wall. She is the ultimate fly on the wall.

HABERMAN: That's right. She literally was present. I don't think an active participant in a lot of these meetings, but certainly a big observer. And so she has basically been testifying almost in lieu of Mark Meadows. It underscores because Meadows has refused to cooperate, but Meadows did turn over hundreds and hundreds of texts. And without those texts and the combination of the texts in Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, I think this committee would have a lot less of a sense of the timeline and of what was taking place behind the scenes.

BERMAN: And about Mark Meadows, he is playing such a key role in absentia, although with his text messages there in all of this. Marc Short, who was the chief of staff, and I know he was the chief of staff, to former Vice President Mike Pence, who testified on video but not in person, talked about Mark Meadows, and how he would, I think, play both sides of this. Mark Meadows was interviewed over the weekend. Listen -- I mean, Marc Short.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO V.P. PENCE: Mark would often say to me that he was working to try and get the president to concede and accept the results of the election, and at the same time, it was clear he was bringing in lots of other people into the White House who were feeding the president of conspiracy theories. I think that Mark was telling different audiences all sorts of different stories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HABERMAN: Well, Marc Short actually testified to something similar in video testimony that they showed but it remained a pretty striking statement to hear him say this out loud. This is something I have heard a lot of former White House officials, not only Marc Short attests to, which is that Mark Meadows told different audiences different things, told different people what they wanted to hear but that he was pretty singularly important in allowing Trump to continue with what he was doing in relation to January 6th and everything prior to that.

KEILAR: You have some really interesting reporting about Trump being in kind of fence-mending mode and reaching out to people that it's quite surprising he's fence-mending with. HABERMAN: It's hard to know. So, there's a couple of things. One is he endorsed Tom Cole, a congressman who has been pretty critical of him, when Nancy Mace, whom he savaged in South Carolina, won her primary where he backed her opponent. He then did some, you know, sort of noted anonymity on his social media website saying congratulations or something to that effect. He is, as one adviser said to me, in friend-making mode. And I don't think it's a coincidence. I think it's as much about wanting to run for president. I think that was a part of it. I think it is about the investigations.

BERMAN: Really?

HABERMAN: I do. I think a lot of what is driving him right now is about concern about the various investigations. And I think he is trying to make more friends than enemies at the moment.

Now, could it benefit for him if he ran for president and won? Absolutely. But I think the investigations have a -- House and otherwise have a large mind share.

BERMAN: Is it bad P.R. or does he think -- do you know or have reporting whether he thinks that they're getting close to something?

HABERMAN: Look, the line from Trump's world is he's not worried about the DOJ investigations. He's just angry because these House investigations are, quote/unquote, very unfair, in his words.

[07:10:03]

Donald Trump is pretty good at seeing when there's heat turning up. And, again, I can't read this mind, I can't see into his heart, but I, based on reporting, don't believe that it is only about the politics of the situation.

KEILAR: I sometimes think she can read his mind, though, or see into his heart.

BERMAN: Magical powers. Maggie, thank you very much.

KEILAR: More than some, I will say. Some great insights, Maggie, thank you.

Overnight, a horrific -- this is just horrific, what we're seeing here, human tragedy in San Antonio. That is what the mayor of San Antonio is calling the scene where at least 46 migrants were found dead inside a semi truck that you see there in the pictures.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez live in San Antonio with more. Priscilla, this is horrific.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Brianna, officials say exactly that. They called it tragic last night in their briefing. And they also said during that briefing that they received a call around 6:00 P.M. local yesterday from someone who was in the area and had heard a cry for help and was alerted to the truck. That truck had deceased individuals in it. 46 people died, 16 were transported to local hospitals, like the one that's behind me. Of those 16, 12 were adults, 4 were pediatric.

And, remember, this was a truck that was traveling in triple-digit heat in Texas. And Fire Chief Charles Hood spoke to the conditions that these people were under. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CHARLES HOOD, SAN ANTONIO FIRE DEPARTMENT: The patients that we saw were hot to the touch. They were suffering exhaustion, no signs of water in the vehicle trailer, but there was no visible working A.C. unit on that rig.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Authorities also said yesterday that those people who were found alive were too weak to even get out of the truck. Now, three people are in custody. It's unclear what their connection is to this, but it is now a federal investigation. John and Brianna?

BERMAN: Priscilla, I can't remember something as awful as this, but how common is it to try to move migrants in the backs of these trailers?

ALVAREZ: Human smugglers often use rigs to move and transport migrants. In fact, it has been happening more often along the U.S./Mexico border. We have had border officials speak to the desperation that some migrants are in, where they put their lives in their hands. And recall, there is an increasing number of people crossing the U.S./Mexico border over the last several months, over 200 border crossings just in the spring.

And so Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told me earlier this month that the administration is doubling down on its efforts to crack down on human smuggling networks and that there have been prosecutions and criminal investigations. But their greatest fear is exactly what happened yesterday, that dozens of people will die in tractor trailers making their way to their next destination. John and Brianna?

KEILAR: Priscilla Alvarez in San Antonio, thank you for the report.

Ahead, we're going to be speaking with the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nirenberg, on the latest in this investigation.

Demand for medical abortion, medication, more than doubling following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We're going to have Dr. Sanjay Gupta explaining this method, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: It's one thing when you know something is going to happen, it's another thing when it actually happens. And I just actually turned to CNN and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it, because they actually did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Dana Bash with an exclusive interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. The vice president's reaction to this ruling, Dana joins us ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

KEILAR: Demand for medication of abortion has more than doubled since Friday's Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. That is according to Hey Jane, an organization that provides medication abortion in some states through virtual appointments.

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now on this. We're starting to hear about this increase after this ruling. Can you just tell us a little bit about how common this is to use the abortion pill for abortion?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, sure. I mean, this is the most common form of abortion now. The most common form of conducting an abortion is through these medications now. And if you take a look, sort of historically, about, you know, close to 30 years after Roe v. Wade, 27 years in the year 2000 is when they really came on the market in the United States, some version of these medication abortion pills. And you can see what has happened over the last 20, 22 years. Now more than half of these abortions are performed using these medications.

To give you more context, in 2019, according to the contraception journals, about 629,000 abortions were performed in the United States, about 340,000 of those were performed using these types of medications. It's typically two medications they're talking about, Mifepristone and Misoprostol. The first medication is something that blocks progesterone so a woman's uterus, the inner lining of the uterus, starts to break down and that effectively ends the pregnancy. And then usually a couple of days later, you take a second pill, so both of these are by mouth, second pill, and that sort of causes the uterus to contract, sort of removing the contents of the uterus. That's how this medication works. And the numbers have gone up.

You can also use it up until about -- of pregnancy, 70 days after the last menstrual period.

[07:20:01]

BERMAN: Safety and efficacy, Sanjay. What does the data show?

GUPTA: Big questions here, but as you might expect, given that these are both oral pills, the safety record has been pretty good. We can show you. Again, these are according to these journals that study this, and you find that safety in terms of major complications, about 0.4 percent. There's a mortality rate that's .0001 percent. So, it's so really safe.

Effectiveness, again, in the first nine weeks or so of pregnancy, it's going to be very effective in terms of ending the abortion, 99.6 percent within those first nine weeks. And then weeks 10 to 11, it goes down to 87 percent, but still pretty effective even up until that point.

KEILAR: So, who will still have access to this?

GUPTA: Well, that is question now. I mean, you know, we were trying to dig into this at the state-by-state level. Obviously, if you're sending pills by the mail, during the pandemic, in April '21, this became something that could be sent by mail, not necessarily requiring an in-person visit, ahead of time, to get these types of medications. We'll see if that sort of policy still is upheld. And if these pills can cross state lines or not, I don't know.

I don't know how that's going to sort of shake out. I think it's going to be different probably pharmacy to pharmacy and state to state as things stand now. And also the role of telehealth in this as well, right now, you can do telehealth visits. You have to do a visit typically before and a visit after, but you can potentially do it from your own home.

KEILAR: Yes. These are some of the questions that really need to be answered in the coming weeks here. Dr. Gupta, great to see you, thank you.

GUPTA: You too. Thank you.

BERMAN: In an exclusive interview, CNN's Dana Bash sat down with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss the Supreme Court ruling, January 6th, the 2024 election and much more. Again, this was exclusive and it was fascinating. Here are some highlights of the interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You were on a plane when the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: As the highest ranking woman ever elected in U.S. history, what was going through your mind at that moment?

HARRIS: Well, so I was on Air Force Two heading to Aurora, Illinois, to talk about maternal health. We were with Lauren Underwood, with the chair of judiciary, Dick Durbin, Senate Judiciary, we were headed there working to unveil a plan based on work we've been doing to ensure that women receive the kind of support they need during and post-pregnancy.

And, you know, we thought that the decision would come down sometime soon, but not at that moment. And I was shocked. And, you know, it's one thing when you know something is going to happen, it's another thing when it actually happens. And I just actually turned to CNN and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it because they actually did it.

And here's what they did. The court actually took a constitutional right that has been recognized for half a century and took it from the women of America. That's shocking. When you think about it, in terms of what that means, in terms of democratic principles, in terms of the ideals upon which we were founded about liberty, about freedom.

BASH: Can the administration expand abortion access or abortion services on federal land, meaning provide the access on federal land that might be in and around states that ban abortion?

HARRIS: I think that what is most important right now is that we ensure that the restrictions that the states are trying to put up that would prohibit a woman from exercising what we still maintain is her right, that we do everything we can to empower women to not only seek but to receive the care where it is available.

BASH: Is federal land one of those options?

HARRIS: I mean, it's not right now what we are discussing. But I will say that when I think about what is happening in terms of the states, we have to also recognize, Dana, that we are 130-odd days away from an election, which is going to include Senate races, right? Part of the issue here is that the court is acting. Now Congress needs to act. But we -- if you count the votes don't appear to have the votes in the Senate.

BASH: You're saying now, the president said, that this fall, Roe is on the ballot. But what do you say to Democratic voters who argue, wait a minute, we worked really hard to elect a Democratic president --

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: -- and vice president.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: Democratic-led House, a Democratic-led Senate.

[07:25:01]

Do it now?

HARRIS: But do what now? What now? I mean, we need -- listen, what we did, we extended the child tax credit for the first year --

BASH: Well, I'm sorry, when I say, do what -- do it now, act legislatively to make abortion rights legal.

HARRIS: We feel the same way. It -- do it now, Congress needs to do it now in terms of permanently putting in place a clear indication that it is the law of the land that women have the ability and the right to make decisions about their reproductive care and the government does not have the right to make those decisions for a woman.

BASH: Would you support eliminating the filibuster in order to pass federal legislation for abortion rights? HARRIS: Right now, given the current composition of the Senate, the votes aren't there.

BASH: But do you use the bully pulpit to say, yes, I support it?

HARRIS: Well, here is the thing, I understand what -- why you are asking me the question, but the reality of it is we don't even get to really answer that

BASH: As the vice president, as the president of the Senate, do you have a position on -- I know you don't have a vote on it but do you have a position on whether the filibuster should be eliminated?

HARRIS: I think the president has spoken on that issue and --

BASH: Well, he said it more. He kind of left the door open. Is this where he was leaving the door open to?

HARRIS: I think that he has been clear about where we stand on this issue of reproductive health and what the president and our administration have within our toolkit to do. And so, so far, that's what we've been pursuing.

BASH: I just want to ask you quickly about January 6th.

HARRIS: Okay.

BASH: You are a prosecutor by training and by lots of experience. Based on the evidence presented so far in the January 6th hearings, would you bring criminal charges against the former president, Donald Trump?

HARRIS: As a former prosecutor, I never comment on another prosecutor's case.

BASH: The former vice president, Mike pence, has your opinion of him changed?

HARRIS: Well, I think that he did his job that day and I commend him for that because, clearly, it was under extraordinary circumstances that he should not have had to face. And I commend him for having the courage to do his job.

BASH: Last question. I know we are out of time.

HARRIS: Sure.

BASH: Your friend, the congressman, Jim Clyburn, said last week that if President Biden doesn't seek re-election, you would be first on his list in 2024. Have you talked to President Biden about re-election? And what do you say to Congressman Clyburn.

HARRIS: Joe Biden is running for re-election and I will be his ticket mate.

BASH: Full stop? HARRIS: Full stop, that's it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And Dana is with us now. Well, there's a lot to discuss here, Dana, but I do want to go back to what she was talking about, the federal lands issue when it comes to abortion. There's a lot of Democrats, voters or progressives in Congress, like Pramila Jayapal, who want to see specifics, they want President Biden to do more. I don't know if they're going to be looking at that interview and feeling that the Biden administration is ready to do a whole lot on abortion or really can do a whole lot.

BASH: It's the can part of it. It's not as if the Biden administration, the vice president herself was saying, no, I don't want to do all of the things that are being proposed by a lot of groups, a lot of members of Congress, obviously, in their own party. Particularly, this federal lands issue, you're exactly, progressives, progressive women, are being very vocal about the federal government doing that. They're just not sure that that is legally viable. It's not on the front of -- or the top of their list that they're pushing. She said it's not something they're looking into. I think that they have and they will, in some ways, but they just don't think it's really that viable.

BERMAN: Of the problem with progressives is they would like to see the White House behaving as if this is a five alarm fire, and they don't feel as if they are seeing that in some cases, whereas the vice president and president is saying we just can't, there's just nothing we can do.

BASH: Yes. I mean, the way that she described it, effectively, is that this is going to be a very, very long haul, that it was generational. She talked about her daughter and her stepdaughter and her mother-in-law who are, you know, 50 years apart. And it is going to take -- likely take maybe that long to change things.

It's very clear from talking to her, from talking to others in and around this issue, that they're going to do what they can on the federal level, but this is going to be and is already a state fight. And this is a fight at the ballot box.

[07:30:00]

The Democrats -- the vice president said it multiple times in this interview.