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Bells Tolls Across U.K. for the Passing of Queen Elizabeth II; Interview with U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Jane Hartley about Queen Elizabeth's Death; DOJ Appeals Decision to Have Special Master Review Evidence. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 09, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon live in London. Brianna Keilar joins me from Washington. John Berman is in New York.

This is CNN's special live coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. For the next hour churches and Elizabeth II. For the next hour churches and cathedrals all across England will toll their bells to mark her passing, and we will certainly pause for that.

You're looking live now at pictures of Buckingham Palace, the newly minted King Charles III is on his way here right now, along with a steady flow of mourners who have been gathering since news of the Queen's passing broke.

I want you to listen in.

(BELLS RINGING)

LEMON: And bells will be tolling any moment now and at some places already all across England.

I want to bring in now CNN's Max Foster who is our royal correspondent -- senior royal correspondent.

Max, thank you for joining us. Listen, what can we expect today as far as what's going to happen ceremonially and also Prince Charles is expected to speak as well.

MAX FOSTER, CNN SENIOR ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, bells tolling at Westminster Abbey, also St. Paul's and Windsor. So that really starts the process. In about an hour, we'll hear gun salutes as well from the park here. You can hear the bells tolling, Westminster Abbey is actually very close to us here. Let's just listen in for a moment.

So they take different patterns depending on the event and this will be an extended version basically because it's such a significant event. And the bells tolling at St. Paul's, there'll also be a service later on, the first moment for, you know, national figures really to reflect on this moment.

I think to hear that Prince Charles has left Balmoral, I would expect to see him come here, actually, Don. It's not confirmed, but there's flowers all along the front of the gates there and he'd want to I'm sure as a first moment to, you know, to give his moment to the people to read those notes.

LEMON: We have been watching some of the things that usually happen here, well, ceremonially. I'm not sure if this is traditionally what happens, but we have seeing some guards going in, possibly getting ready for some things, but usually there is a changing of the guard. You said a lot of things now have been postponed or put on hold since the Queen died.

FOSTER: So we've gone into a period of mourning. So for the nation that's until the funeral day and it continues after that for the royal family and the royal household. And there is guidance that's just been issued by the government about what that means. Organizations can cancel events if they want to, but no one is expected to do anything, and then we'll wait to hear about whether or not there'll be any public holidays.

But I think what you're seeing here is basically all the mechanics of the constitutional setup here in the U.K. The military getting in position for what will be a whole series of ceremonial events leading up to that state funeral which is probably going to be in, you know, 12 days' time perhaps. We'll wait for confirmation on that. That's when the, you know, heads of state from all around the world will come here to pay their respects to the Queen, but also to the new king crucially because all of this will be about promoting the next monarchy, the transition as much as looking back.

LEMON: In true London fashion we have been getting every degree of weather that we can get from warm to cold to sunshine, the sun is coming out now, to rain. And I don't know if you can hear it splashing off of the tent here. But that has not stopped the folks from coming out here, a handful of people -- I mean, a little bit more than a handful of people, maybe a couple hundred people this morning when we got here a few hours ago.

And now by the thousands people are coming out. When it rained they had their umbrellas. But it is not stopping them from paying tribute to the Queen and also possibly wanting to see -- maybe getting a glimpse of the king and others today.

FOSTER: Yes, I mean, I don't think they're fully aware frankly that the king might be coming here and it's -- you know, it's me reading between the lines really. But if he does come here I think it will be a very powerful moment. I think it would also be powerful to hear from other members of the family, particularly Prince William who'll be expected to pay his tributes as well. He may come here as well. He's now elevated. He's the first in line to the throne. He's the Duke of Cornwall. He has a hugest estate at his disposal, a huge new income which was Prince Charles' as he now inherits that automatically.

I would also expect the king to announce that William has been bestowed the title of Prince of Wales as well because that's the tradition.

LEMON: But no Harry.

FOSTER: Harry is back and I understand that he has arrived at Heathrow. I don't know what's going to happen there. I mean, there's lots of discussion about why they travel separately.

LEMON: Was he playing a role? I know he's here. He'd left Aberdeen. He left Scotland this morning. We saw him boarding the plane.

[07:05:02]

FOSTER: He won't play any ceremonial or constitutional role but obviously as the grandson, as someone incredibly close to the Queen, they shared a sense of humor, I think she would want him to be involved. And she was involved in all of these funeral plans and sign them all off, and she would certainly want him there. It's just this tension between the brothers which is something I'm sure they'll put behind them because they don't want to steal attention away from, you know, a very significant moment for the world.

LEMON: Lots more to discuss here with Max at Buckingham Palace. Max, I want you to stand by. We want to go to Isa Soares. She is live outside of Balmoral Castle in Scotland where the Queen passed yesterday afternoon.

Isa, good morning to you. What can you tell us about the immediate royal family today?

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very good morning to you, Don. As we have seen overnight probably the saddest of evenings of course for this royal family, clearly still grieving. Most of the royal family, the closest royal family members spent the night next to the Queen. Of course, we know that King Charles III and his queen consort, he spent the night next to his mother of course, coming to see her as quickly as he could yesterday, being the first member of his family to arrive at Balmoral.

He was then joined by three of his siblings, as well as two of his children, Prince Harry and Prince William. We have learned in the last 30 minutes or so as you mentioned, as you were speaking to Max, that Prince Charles III and the queen consort were seen leaving Balmoral. We suspect they were going to Aberdeen to then make their way to London. And about an hour and a half or two hours before that we saw Prince Harry leave Balmoral as well.

But you can just imagine how hard it must be for members of the royal family, for King Charles of course, III, because he is still grieving. It's a mother he's lost and a monarch, and a matriarch I think it's important to point out. But today the accession process truly begins. The role that he of course has practiced, has been preparing for, for his entire life. He must of course continue grieving, continue remembering that moment.

It must be incredibly hard to leave Balmoral and his mother and make his way to London. Of course, he has a series of appointments today that Max was mentioning, one of those with the privy council. Well, of course he will be proclaimed as monarch, he'll be addressing the nation for the first time tonight as king, as King Charles III, and he will be meeting of course with Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The remainder members of the royal family from what we understand are still here. And I think they could probably can draw some comfort, Don, from the fact that the Queen spent her last moments really in Balmoral, a place that she felt really at home, where she felt that she could just switch off and just take all this beautiful nature in. Of course, so many wonderful memories of all her children and grandchildren here, Don.

LEMON: Yes, very simply, Isa, a place that she loved. Thank you very much. We'll check back in with you.

SOARES: Yes.

LEMON: I am joined now by -- to find out what this means for the special relationship between Britain and the United States is U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and that's Jane Hartley.

Jane, good morning to you. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you joining us. You're one of the fortunate ones who met the late Queen. Your reaction to her death? Where were you when you learned the news?

JANE HARTLEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.K.: I was at Winfield House with some my team, my American and my U.K. team. And I will tell you people were just heartbroken. Everyone knew this day could come, but somehow it just seemed to come too soon, and there were a lot of tears and I don't think anybody -- you know, she was an icon and frankly she was an icon all over the world, to America and especially to the U.K. And I'm not sure we'll ever see somebody like her again.

LEMON: Since you knew her and you got to spend with her, what was she like, Jane, in the brief moments that you spent with her?

HARTLEY: Well, the story that comes to mind is when I presented my credentials. You know, when a U.S. ambassador comes to the U.K. there is a formal process you have to go through and usually that is quite formal. You get picked up in a horse and carriage and get taken to Buckingham Palace. The day that I presented my credentials was the hottest day in London history, so the horses could not pick me up, but the Queen was so lovely and asked if she could send a car to get me.

But what I remember the most about the audience with her, first of all, she was extremely substantive, extremely curious, much discussion of policy, foreign policy, even domestic policy in the U.S.

[07:10:11]

But she cared so much. I had not been here long so she kept asking me, was I happy, was London treating me well. Did I like Winfield House. Just so warm. And she really perked up when I told her I had brought my dog, and that seemed to make her very happy. But she was --

LEMON: She was a dog lover.

HARTLEY: She was a dog lover, but she was such a warm -- you know, it's interesting. I had so much respect for her, being that I'm the second -- you probably know this -- I'm the second woman to be U.K. ambassador here, the first in about 50 years, but when I think about her 70 years as a young woman when there were no -- there were no women as global leaders then and what she did and what she accomplished, and especially, especially her service and duty, what she felt about duty and what she felt about service to the country.

I mean, I was really myself brought to tears when two days, I guess it's three days ago, she met with the new prime minister, Prime Minister Truss, and asked her to form a government. So, you know, right to the end she felt this service to her country and I just respect her and that so much.

LEMON: Well, that is what people are talking about here, that she served the country and the citizens of the country and beyond right up until the end.

Can we move forward, Jane, Ambassador, and let's talk about Charles, Charles as prince and now as king? His public image has improved over the years in the U.K. How do you think he'll change the so-called special relationship with the U.S.?

HARTLEY: I think the special relationship will remain strong and perhaps even get stronger. I mean, I've been here now, oh, God, I don't know, I was lucky to be here for Platinum Jubilee and I've been a little bit back and forth to Washington, but it's been amazing to me seeing in person how strong this relationship is, how much trust there is, how much sharing there is, whether that be military, whether that be intelligence, whether it be security. And I think with Charles there will be the same relationship.

Listen, he -- my feeling is that he has the same sense of duty and service that his mother had to this country and frankly to the world.

LEMON: Ambassador, we're so happy, grateful, that you could join us here. We're sorry for your loss. Ambassador Jane Hartley, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

HARTLEY: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: So let's go now to CNN's Anna Stewart, not far from here at Buckingham Palace.

What are you hearing from the crowd over there, Anna?

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are now on the mall a little bit further away from you, and you can probably see behind me crowds of people heading to Buckingham Palace where they want to lay flowers and pay their respects to the Queen. It's been a very emotional 24 hours as I'm sure you can imagine. Yesterday the people we spoke to were really shocked and I would say there's a sense of numbness really for people even though they were there to be there for the moment when they found out the Queen had died. Couldn't quite believe when it had happened.

Today the mood changed slightly. There's definitely more of a buzz, people talking and people very sad, reflecting on her life but doing it together, which is a very beautiful thing to see. Lots of people have told me it feels like they've lost a member of their own family, like the Queen was their grandmother, some people saying this is just the end of a chapter and they want to be here to mark it. And plenty of people here really to pay their respects for Her Majest the Queen who they say, you know, dedicated her whole life, 70 years as a monarch, to public duty to the U.K. and to the Commonwealth.

And one person I spoke to over from Australia was Melinda. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELINDA, AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN: Even in Australia you have grown up a lot with the Queen in the background, yes.

STEWART: How do you think this will be felt at home?

MELINDA: Well, I think it will be interesting to see how the changeover is with Charles and everything, but I think a lot of people have been messaging me from home and saying, you know, wow, you know, it's kind of special that you are there for everyone. I can't believe I'm crying, to be honest. So, anyway, thank you for making me have a bit of grief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:15:05]

LEMON: OK. So you're looking at live pictures now. This is Aberdeen Airport in Scotland and you're seeing King Charles now departing. Max Foster back with me now. This is a moment that you and I had been speaking about this morning. He is on his way back to London, correct?

FOSTER: This is the first time we've seen King Charles III, Don, on television in the public. So this is a very significant moment. Every image now will be historic and part of the national archive effectively. He is there thanking, I'm sure, people at the airport and people involved in his visit there to Scotland. His whole world, his whole position really in the national pecking order has gone up a level. So he's surrounded by a very different sort of security setup and also --

LEMON: Is that the queen consort?

FOSTER: That's Queen Camilla, the queen consort. So just to clarify, Charles is the monarch as his mother was the monarch. When he eventually leaves the throne then William will become king and Camilla will not sort of replace him. So they're not equal in status but she is the consort.

LEMON: Yes. So they will fly here, the flight is not long.

FOSTER: So I think they'll be heading straight back to London because -- that's his private secretary following him. I think they'll come to London. I think, you know, they've had their family, private family time, and as harsh as it seems now is the moment to come and address his other commitment which is to the nation. And I think the most obvious thing for him to do would be, first of all, perhaps calling on the prime minister, have an audience with the prime minister, and then come out and greet the crowds frankly here at Buckingham Palace.

I mean, in terms of security, it's a tough setup, but they would have prepared for it. He needs to have some moment with the public, I think.

LEMON: I just want to alert our viewers. This is live pictures. This is King Charles now, the third, and Queen Consort Camilla, and they are leaving. And this is just moments ago, leaving Aberdeen Airport in Scotland on their way back to London. And possibly, we're getting word possibly that he will address the crowd today, I'm not sure. Am I correct with that?

FOSTER: I think --

LEMON: Or he may come and look --

FOSTER: What I would expect him to do is look at the flowers.

LEMON: Tour the flowers.

FOSTER: And read the messages and then later on there will be an address to the nation, but I think that that will be prerecorded. So I think they'll probably record that today, if it hasn't been done already.

LEMON: The first pictures we're seeing of him. Live pictures.

FOSTER: As king.

LEMON: As king.

FOSTER: Yes.

LEMON: A significant moment.

FOSTER: Yes, we'll see these pictures forever.

LEMON: His life has changed forever and the lives of many folks who were -- many folks here in the U.K.

FOSTER: Yes. Yes.

LEMON: And beyond.

FOSTER: The end of the second Elizabethan era and this is Charles' era now and it's for him to define. And that's -- we're going to get the first sense of that as he comes to London and starts speaking and meets the prime minister. I think, you know, you were speaking earlier, weren't you, with a former press secretary and he made a very poignant point that, you know, the ructions that have been created in the United Kingdom in just a week, a new prime minister and a new monarch, that's a big change. LEMON: Yes. It is a big change. Listen, as we watch King Charles now

and Queen Consort Camilla leave Aberdeen Airport, but I always like to show the newspapers. I wanted to get more of them, but this is -- we're speaking of a life of service, right? This is "The Times." And that's the Queen, the young Queen on the cover, a beautiful picture. A life --

FOSTER: On her coronation day.

LEMON: Yes. "A Life in Service, Queen Elizabeth II, April 21, 1926 to September 8, 2022." And then this one is "The Sun" which I think is a beautiful picture of her now as she was when she passed. "We loved you, ma'am," here, and then it just says, "Britain's longest serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at her beloved Balmoral home, age 96 yesterday after 70 years of devoted service." Then there's a 36-page tribute inside. And many more of these I'm sure.

FOSTER: When do you see the British newspapers agreeing on anything?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: You tell me.

FOSTER: Not very often.

LEMON: This is your bailiwick as they say. But it's certainly significant, to see the new king and where he's headed here to -- whether it's today or whenever he will have to address, these are his people.

FOSTER: Yes. And I think you prioritized the meeting with his first audience with the prime minister, and that will become a weekly affair and he'll have a very close bond now with Liz Truss through these extraordinary circumstances.

LEMON: Imagine what it's like for her.

FOSTER: Both for themselves, yes.

LEMON: I know. To both of them.

FOSTER: Yes.

LEMON: But I mean, listen, he has 70 years to get ready for this. I'm not sure she has had that lead time.

FOSTER: No, although she was the longest serving Cabinet minister when she took up that role. And, you know, she's a formidable character. I have met her several times and I think that she'll step up to it, but what's extraordinary for her is she, you know, spent the summer campaigning to go into this position, it was all about tackling the economic crisis, that was going to define her premiership, I wonder if this will now.

[07:20:05]

LEMON: All right. Max, stand by. Max is going to be with me throughout our coverage here today on CNN.

We're going to throw it back to John and Brianna in Washington, D.C. and New York.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And what you were looking at right there, that plane on the tarmac in Aberdeen, in Scotland, that is headed back to London. King Charles III is on board that plane and he will head to London and arrive in London for the first time as king.

Other news when we come back, two sheriff's deputies killed in an ambush near Atlanta and the clock is ticking on Donald Trump's lawyers. How they will respond to the Justice Department's motion for the judge to reconsider her ruling on a special master.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, more of our live coverage of King Charles III taking the throne after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be very, very, very difficult being without her. We all loved her very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:04]

BERMAN: Our special live coverage continues in a moment on the death of Queen Elizabeth. First, though, the Justice Department has said it plans to appeal a court-ordered special master to review the materials seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's beach home. The DOJ is actually filing a motion with a federal judge carving out part of her ruling, saying that the FBI should be able to look at classified documents that were seized there.

With us now CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen, he was the House Judiciary Committee's special counsel during Donald Trump's first impeachment trial.

Ambassador, great to have you here. I know you agree with what the Justice Department is doing here, I know you disagree with Judge Cannon's original ruling. Can you explain exactly what they're asking here? It's an interesting carveout.

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: John, thanks for having me back. Yes, the Justice Department is saying to Judge Cannon, we're not going to appeal right now your decision to appoint a special master or prohibit us from using the 11,000 non-classified documents, but for a small subset of documents that were seized by the Justice Department when it executed its search warrant at Mar-a-Lago a bit over 100 documents they're saying, Judge, don't stop us from using these while we investigate, issue a stay of your earlier order, so that we can appeal this to the 11th Circuit. They've kind of given up on her, they're not asking her to reconsider.

They're going to go up on appeal but in the meantime they say don't tie our hands on these documents. It's dangerous to national security.

BERMAN: So why? Why these documents? What's the justification to let them continue to look at these roughly, I understand, 100 documents?

EISEN: Well, the justification is that the judge said in her earlier order, John, that she was going to bifurcate. She was going to allow -- these documents are so dangerous and we've talked about this as a former diplomat who had our nation's highest security clearance, and who actually worked on the executive order that the government relies upon to make this argument when I was in the White House.

This division that she's made makes no sense. She says, hey, these documents are so dangerous we're going to allow the intelligence community to do a damage assessment. Are we burning the identities of spies? Are we endangering Americans or our allies by having these documents in an insecure location? But, FBI, DOJ, you can't look at them.

Well, John, the FBI and the DOJ are part of the intelligence community. If it's dangerous enough and we seem to have that here, the attorney general and others in his building need to both do the criminal investigation and the damage assessment. The attorney general can't put a wall up in the middle of his brain. So they're saying, hey, your order essentially endangers national security, please stay that part of the order while we appeal it.

KEILAR: Because, Norm, DOJ is saying that that intelligence damage assessment actually has to pause. That these things are too intertwined for that to go on if she has this injunction. First off, you know, does that make sense to you? And do you think that the judge is going to find that compelling enough that she's going to say, OK, that makes sense?

EISEN: Well, Brianna, we had a little clue that the judge is taking -- Judge Cannon is taking it very seriously because after DOJ filed, she ordered the parties in the special master recommendations, who the special master should be and the so-called order of operations, how the special master will work. Even though she hasn't ruled on the stay motion, she said I want both parties to address how DOJ's motion will affect the choice and operation of the special master. So I think that's a tell that she's taking this seriously.

Brianna, DOJ has given her a lifeline. This is the worst and most dangerous part of her order, and if she's smart she will take it and she'll stay this part of the order. I really do think it jeopardizes our national security if she doesn't.

KEILAR: Yes, they're kind of saying unpretzel yourself or we're heading to the 11th Circuit for an actual appeal here.

Norm, great to have you on. Thank you so much.

EISEN: Thanks, Brianna. Thanks, John. KEILAR: This morning two sheriff's deputies in Georgia are dead after

being ambushed Thursday while trying to serve a warrant. Police say they now have two suspects in custody after an hours' long standoff.