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New Day

Royals Begin Solemn Day Ahead of Queen's Coffin in Procession; Book Shows Trump Planned to Blockade Himself in White House After Loss; Border Patrol to Prove Unacceptable Stephen Miller Retweets. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 12, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Ferris Bueller.

[07:00:02]

I like that, but I guess the question is -- we were talking about this.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. If you say Don Corleone is the guy you want to be, what are you really saying? What is it that you want to do?

Harry Enten, cover your heart Harry, I'll leave you with that. I really appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Well done, sir.

New Day's special coverage continues right now.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Don Lemon live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

King Charles III and his queen consort, Camilla, arrived here just later this hour. They're coming from London where Charles received addresses of condolences and then addressed parliament for the very first time as the new monarch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING CHARLES III OF ENGLAND: As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history, which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both houses dedicate yourselves with such personal commitment for the betterment of us all. Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And this is how the rest of the day will play out. This afternoon, there will be a service of reflection for the extraordinary life of Queen Elizabeth II. That service is going to take place at St. Giles' Cathedral. And this morning, Prince Harry paid tribute in a statement to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, thanking her for her, quote, sound advice and infectious smile. And he continued, in celebrating the life of my grandmother, her majesty the queen and mourning her loss, we are all reminding of the guiding compass she was to so many in her commitment to service and duty.

I want to get to straight away now with CNN's Anna Stewart, she joins us live from London. Anna, hello to you. How was the response from the parliament to the king's address?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, I think that address was really quite a phenomenal one, saying how he felt steeped in history and there were so many reminders for the king standing in Westminster Hall to his mother, because in parliament, he said there was the fountain in New Palace Yard, the sundial in palace yard, the stained glass before him, all built in commemoration of the various jubilees of the queen. And he ended by saying, she set an example of selfless duty, which with God's help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.

So, an important address, I think, and, of course, now he's on his way to Scotland where you are. And later today, we will see him walk on foot behind the casket as it travels from the palace to Holyroodhouse to St. Giles' Cathedral. Don?

LEMON: All right. Anna Stewart, thank you very much. I appreciate that.

The queen's casket will be arriving at St. Giles' Cathedral here in Edinburgh in the next few hours. St. Giles' is considered the mother church of Presbyterianism and is one of Scotland's the most important medieval parish church buildings. It was founded by King David I, that was in 1124. And nearly 200 years later, it was heavily damaged by fire in a raid on Edinburgh by the Scots. And then 1560, its 400-year reign as a Catholic Church officially ended when Presbyterianism was established in Scotland.

Now, the stained glass windows were removed in the old church. Silver was melted down and sold to raise funds for redecorations. St. Giles' was restored in 1782 by William Chambers, the lord provost of Edinburgh. And in 1811, its Thistle Chapel was constructed. The Robert Burns memorial window was installed in 1985, a tribute to the renowned Scottish poet.

CNN's Nic Robertson is outside St. Giles' Cathedral, that historic cathedral that we just mentioned so much about. Nic, what are you seeing as we wait for the king and queen consort to arrive?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Don. Along the royal mile here, just past the cathedral is the Edinburgh Castle just hidden around the corner. And it will be a historic moment as much as there is so much history imbued in St. Giles' Cathedral, you've just been talking about. This will be a historic moment.

The royal family led by King Charles with the queen consort will walk up this street. Imagine that just a few feet away from the gathering crowds, and there really is a lot of people, really have been a lot of people gathering here through the morning, this sense of anticipation of what people will be able to see, the memories they'll be able to take away, the queen's casket going up the street.

[07:05:05]

This is an event here today that most people will never have witnessed, to see the royals walk so close by them.

I'm joined now by Edward Lipskom (ph). Edward, you're wearing a medal for your service to the royal family. What does it mean for you to be here today now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I came here to show support for the king and the rest of the royal family. But above all, as a way of showing my gratitude for what the queen did for this country and for all of us for 70 years.

ROBERTSON: And you've been perhaps closer in a way to the royal family than most people. This is a huge day for King Charles. How do you feel it's going to go for him and how do you feel he's rising now to the challenge of being king?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a very positive feeling for how Prince Charles is going to carry on what his mother did before. And I think he showed that in his wonderful speech that he gave on Friday. And I have no doubt that the monarchy will carry on and thrive, actually, for the next reign.

ROBERTSON: And just your sense of the atmosphere here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's tremendous. It's fantastic. I knew lots and lots of people would come. But it is just tremendous. And we're all here to show support. And it's a very sad but very important occasion, I think, for all of us.

ROBERTSON: Thank you very much indeed.

Don, that's the sense building here. We've been here since the early hours. There was almost no one on the streets when we first arrived. But now there are hundreds of people here. But I think within a couple of hours when the royal family walk up the royal mile here, the royal family on the royal mile, on these cobbles just a few feet away, thousands upon thousands upon thousands heaping their good wishes on the new king and the royal family.

LEMON: Right on. Nic, you can expect more here and also later on in the week in the days to come as well. Nic Robertson, thank you very much for that.

We're going to have much, much more from Scotland this hour. I want to send it back to Brianna Keilar now in the states here. Brianna, a momentous time here, really, and watching it all play out live, and much of it for the very first time since obviously this hasn't happened in 70 years, since, really, the proliferation of television. It was around but not very many people had it when the queen was coroneted in 1953.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: No. And seeing all these Brits coming out to pay their respects, it is really amazing, Don. We know that you'll continue to follow it.

New this morning, reporting provided exclusively to CNN from the forthcoming book by New York Times Reporter Maggie Haberman with revelations on former President Trump's final days in the White House. CNN Correspondent Kristen Holmes has all the new details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): New revelations on the final days of former President Donald Trump's presidency. In reporting provided to CNN from a forthcoming book by The New York Times Reporter Maggie Haberman, Trump repeatedly told aides following his election loss that he would refuse to leave the White House.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.

HOLMES: Haberman's book, Confidence Man, the Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, reports that Trump told one aide, quote, I'm just not going to leave, and saying to another, quote, we're never leaving. How can you leave when you won an election?

Trump's insistence that he would not leave the White House has never before been previously reported and shines a new light on the chaotic final days of his administration.

Haberman writes of a shift in Trump's private comments on the election loss. In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Trump seemed to recognize the loss. He comforted one adviser saying, we did our best, and told junior press aides, I thought we had it, seemingly almost embarrassed by the outcome.

REPORTER: If the Electoral College does elect President-elect Joe Biden are you not going to leave the building?

TRUMP: Certainly I will. Certainly I will, and you know that. But I think there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of January, a lot of things.

HOLMES: But at some point, Trump's mood shifted and he was heard saying he would not leave. He was even overheard asking the Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, why should I leave if they stole it from me?

TRUMP: Make no mistake, this election was stolen from you, from me, from the country.

It was a rigged election.

[07:10:00] You look at the different states, the election was totally rigged.

HOLMES: Haberman, who is also a CNN contributor, reports Trump quizzed nearly everyone around him on how to stay in power. Among those who reportedly asked, the valet who brought him diet coke when Trump pressed a red button on his Oval Office desk. She says Trump's his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner was reluctant to confront him over the election loss. Kushner encouraged a group of aides to go to the White House and brief Trump. When asked why he wasn't attending the briefing, he likened it to a deathbed scene saying, the priest comes later.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And joining us now to discuss, New York Times Congressional Correspondent Luke Broadwater. Luke, thank you so much for being with us this morning to talk about this.

A lot of revelations here. So, first, just how serious was Trump about staying? Because there's a difference between saying you plan to stay and making some concrete moves to stay.

LUKE BROADWATER, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Right, that's absolutely true. And we know from Maggie's new book, which has just provided explosive details this morning that this was all part of a series of events for Donald Trump to stay in office. We know that he was scheming shortly thereafter, after losing the election, to stay in power. It was everything from seizing voting machines to putting forward plans for fake electors.

But now we have his own comments to people around him. First, that he seemed to acknowledge that he had lost, and then that he was saying he was going to just stay in office no matter what the voters said, no matter what the will of the people was.

KEILAR: You heard there, November 26th, and it's a little unclear on some of the timing in the book. November 26th, he says publicly, when asked by reporters, that, of course, he will leave, you know, if he has to, or if it's determined that he has lost, even though it was determined at that point. What do you make of that timing? Is it publicly he's saying one thing, privately he's saying another, or is it, publicly, he's saying that and then eventually he's shifting to say he'll stay post end of November?

BROADWATER: Well, he does say, but a lot of things are going to happen before January 20th, right? So, he -- I think he's referring to things they have in motion, right? We know they've been spanning out people to the states to put forward these fake electors. We know he's privately talking to the Justice Department about sending out letters, false letters to the states, telling them the election was false and that they should either rerun it or have their legislature convene and decertify the results. We know that people like Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell are coming into his office and give him really bad advice.

So, there's a bit of mixed comments there from Trump about what he's planning to do, but it seems very clear from this reporting that he was going to try everything possible to stay in office despite losing the election.

KEILAR: It's important that in this reporting, initially, he has accepted the loss almost with some embarrassment. And that shifts eventually. Are there legal implications here?

BROADWATER: Well, we know that there are something like five investigations going into Donald Trump right now and going into different aspects of what happened on January 6th. And one of the things that I think will be key is what Donald Trump was -- his mindset and what he was intending to happen. And so if we know that Donald Trump at some point perhaps believed that he had actually lost but now was refusing to concede, I do think that will weigh on the minds of prosecutors when they are determining whether to move forward with this case or that case.

KEILAR: Really fascinating details from your colleague, Maggie Haberman, so many questions that it also raises also, I would say. Luke, we do appreciate you being with us this morning. Thanks.

BROADWATER: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Speaking of the multiple investigations, Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to President Trump, has been subpoenaed by federal investigators. It is in connection to a federal grand jury investigation into one of Trump's main political and fundraising vehicle, the Save America Leadership PAC. The political action committee has amassed more than $100 million since November of 2020. Now, investigators may be looking into whether the PAC defrauded people out of money using false claims about the 2020 election.

Miller joins a growing list of former Trump aides to receive a subpoena. That lists include Eric Herschmann, Brian Jack, William Russell, the organizer of the Stop the Steal rally, Ali Alexander, testified in June. He is not an aide to President Trump, never has been. Pence aides Marc Short and Greg Jacob testified. Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Deputy Counsel Patrick Philbin talked to investigators earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and former President Trump's legal teams have submitted their dueling proposals on how to move forward with the special master review of documents seized at Mar-a- Lago.

[07:15:04]

Wide disagreements in people and process, which is why I'm now joined by our Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig.

Elie, first of all, let's talk about the special master, the dueling proposals on people and, like I said, process.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, John. So, last week, the judge said to the parties, I want you to get together, I want you to negotiate, I want you to agree whatever you can, and then I want you to put in a joint brief to me by the end of the week. Well, late Friday night, the parties put in the joint filing in which they say essentially to the judge, we've agreed on nothing.

Let's take a look starting with who should be the special master. Each party has put forward two names, one of them Paul Huck Jr., who is a private attorney, who's mostly done Republican and conservative- leaning work. The other three are very widely respected former federal judges. Really, they transcend politics and partisanship. Worth noting, Judge Barbara Jones was the special master for Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen.

Parties also disagree on who pays. DOJ says, Donald Trump, you are the one who wants the special master, you ought to pay. Trump says, why don't we split the cost 50/50. They disagree on timeframe. DOJ wants this done quickly. They say it should be done by October 17th. Trump's people say more like 90 days, which would put us into mid-December. And, importantly, they disagree on the scope of the review. Trump's team says the special master should look at all 11,000 seized documents for all privileges, DOJ says, no, the special master should not be looking at classified documents and the special master, DOJ argues, has no authority to decide issues of executive privilege. All these issues now are going to land on the judge.

BERMAN: On that subject right there, federal prosecutors have also basically gone back to Judge Cannon and asked her to stay, put a stay on part of her rulings. What's that, Elie?

HONIG: Yes. So, a stay just is a legal word for a pause. Now, remember, the judge said, while the special master is doing his or her work, DOJ, you cannot use these documents. DOJ went to the judge and said, Judge, we want you to reconsider and put on pause the part of the ruling that relates to only about the 100 or so classified documents out of the 11,000 documents. So, we're talking about 1 percent of the documents. DOJ argues there is no privilege claim over classified documents and you cannot halt us, you cannot stop us as DOJ from doing our investigation. Today at 10:00 A.M., Donald Trump's lawyers will be responding to that.

BERMAN: Now, depending on what happens with this stay, prosecutors have filed a notice of appeal. They're going to send this higher.

HONIG: Yes. A notice of appeal, meaning we intend to appeal, we reserve the right to appeal. Right now, we are here. We are at the district court level and federal court, that's the trial court. If they appeal, they will be going up to here, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, one step below the Supreme Court.

If we look at the 11th Circuit, this is known of the 13 circuits in the country, the second or so most conservative circuit, we have got seven active judges who were appointed by Republicans, six of those, by the way, by Donald Trump himself. Only four active judges were appointed by Democratic presidents and another five and four if we include senior judges who have reduced case loads.

The way this works, by the way, if there is an appeal, three of these judges will be selected at random. So, the odds are very much in Donald Trump's favor.

BERMAN: When does this happen?

HONIG: There is a lot going down this week. We have got today at 10:00 A.M., the DOJ has to file their response on the motion for the stay. The judge will have to figure out all those special master issues and we should find out by Thursday whether DOJ is going to move forward with the appeal.

BERMAN: A busy week for a senior legal analyst.

HONIG: A lot going on.

BERMAN: Elie Honig, thank you very much for that.

So, controversial tweets by former Trump Aide Stephen Miller re- tweeted on an account belonging to Customs and Border Protection. Now, an investigation has been launched.

Plus, Senate Democrats making a push to protect same-sex marriage but will they get enough support from Republicans?

KEILAR: And one month after a Duke volleyball player alleged she was called racial slurs during a game against BYU. Investigators say there's no evidence to corroborate her claim.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

KEILAR: An investigation has been launched into the West Texas border patrol agency's re-tweets after that official account shared Twitter posts made by former Trump Adviser Stephen Miller. The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection called the re-tweets, quote, totally unacceptable.

CNN's Josh Campbell has been following developments and joins us from Los Angeles. Josh, walk us through this.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Brianna. Most law enforcement agencies are actually quite reserved in their use of social media. A lot of agencies actually have guidelines on what they cannot say, which is why this garnered attention over the weekend when this official Customs and Border Protection account in West Texas began re-tweeting posts from former Trump Adviser Stephen Miller.

Miller obviously a hardliner on immigration issues, he has created some controversy in the past, including, according to CNN reporting, one instance during a cabinet meeting when he apparently claimed that continuing to allow Afghan allies and Middle East refugees into the United States would create, quote, a bunch of Iraqs and Stans across the U.S.

Now, he denied those comments, but in this latest series of tweets there that you see on your screen, Miller blasted law enforcement for not focusing enough in his view on violent crime and focusing more on, quote, those whose only crime is dissent (ph). Now, he didn't elaborate on what that meant but obviously those comments come as the U.S Justice Department first under Donald Trump and now under Joe Biden have charged numerous people in the Capitol insurrection.

Now, that re-tweeting by this official account drew quite condemnation from the head of CBP. I'll read you part of his statement. He says, totally unacceptable and disappointing that a CBP account was used to re-tweet offensive and unauthorized content. He said that they removed that content. They'll shutter the account. They've launched the central investigation. He ends by saying, this must not happen again.

Finally, Brianna, we don't know why this information was re-tweeted. Was there someone at CBP who was trying to make a point? Was there someone who perhaps thought they were on their personal account but were still logged into the government account? We'll wait and see what this investigation finds.

[07:25:00]

KEILAR: All right. Josh Campbell, thank you so much.

CAMPBELL: Thanks.

BERMAN: Senate Democrats are making a push for Republican support needed to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify same- sex marriage and this would happen before the midterm elections. In an op-ed published by The Washington Post, Senators Tammy Baldwin and Susan Collins, the coauthors of the Respect for Marriage bill wrote, quote, the bipartisan legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that allowed states and the federal government to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages validly performed in other states. Our bipartisan legislation leaves in intact religious liberties and protections afforded to individuals and organizations under federal law. The Respect of Marriage Act will not take away or alter any religious liberty or conscience protections.

Joining me now is Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin, the Democrat who co-authored this bill. Senator, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-WI): It's a pleasure to join you, thank you.

BERMAN: That excerpt that I just read in the op-ed, you lean in to the notion of religious liberty, it won't take away protections for religious liberty. Why? What do you mean by that?

BALDWIN: Well, as we've been discussing with our colleagues in order to get the supermajority necessary to pass this in the U.S. Senate, that's one of the concerns that my Republican colleagues have been raising, a new law, does that create some new exemptions. And the answer is absolutely not. And while we think it is clear and said so in the op-ed, we are entertaining a clarifying amendment so that that argument falls flat and we can get the necessary number of Republicans to join all the Democrats and pass the Respect for Marriage Act.

BERMAN: How many Republicans do you have as you sit here with me this morning?

BALDWIN: We'll know a lot more by the end of the day as we reconvene and discussions now very focused on the draft amendment, the clarifying amendment, continue. We had just shy of ten, I think, for the underlying bill. If this clarity gets several more, we'll be in really good shape and we hope that we'll actually have the debate and passage of the bill next week.

BERMAN: But before the amendment, you weren't over the finish line?

BALDWIN: I had five on the record and three more soft, not quite on the record. You know, you have got to be careful. To me, this isn't a political issue, that, to me, success and passing it for the benefit of those who are in same-sex marriage or interracial marriages to know that they have certainty.

So much has changed in recent years where the majority of Americans think that you should be able to be married to the person you love and know that that marriage is going to be recognized for years to come.

BERMAN: One of the arguments that you hear from Republicans is why is this necessary. The Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal on all the states already. So, why do you need this?

BALDWIN: Well, the same court that overturned Roe versus Wade puts in jeopardy a number of other Supreme Court cases, the case that affirmed same-sex marriage, the case that affirmed interracial marriage. And I can tell you that there are many millions of couples across the United States who are legitimately concerned about the -- about the legitimacy of their marriage, about the certainty of their marriage.

You know, we often think when we say the word marriage of the wedding rights. But with a marriage certificate comes very important rights and responsibilities that people rely on, say, hospital visitation and, you know, all sorts of things that are really important. So, this is timely right now.

BERMAN: Is there also something about an elected body voting and saying, I affirm you, we affirm you, we choose to believe in your right to marry?

BALDWIN: I think there's a strong statement but let's remind people what is in the underlying bill. It repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, which was an act of a former Congress saying, we don't recognize same-sex marriages. And the court opinion made that moot. But to repeal it would be a very affirming statement.

BERMAN: Now, when you have five solid yeses, three sort of quietly on the fence was your Wisconsin Republican colleague, Ron Johnson, one of those eight?

BALDWIN: Well, he was in the beginning. But now, I think the -- what I hope is he'll look at our clarifying amendment and accept it and get back to his original position, but he's gone back and forth quite a bit on this issue.

BERMAN: We have some sound. We have some sound of Senator Johnson recently now saying that I think he's opposed to it.

[07:30:00]

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI) (voice over): I said, at this point, I don't see a reason to oppose it to get them off my back. I would not support it in its current state.