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New Day

Sham Voting Underway in Russian-Occupied Areas Inside Ukraine; Ex-Welfare Chief Takes Plea Deal in Scheme Linked to Brett Favre; Special Master Demands Trump Team Prove Baseless Conspiracies. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 23, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New Day continues right now.

So, Vladimir Putin under serious pressure this morning as he faces dissent at home.

I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

Staged referendum in four occupied areas of Ukraine under way, what the U.S. considers sham elections to vote on whether the regions should become part of Russia.

Now, it comes as Putin has really shocked his people by essentially announcing a draft. Now, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is calling on Russians to resist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: 55,000 Russian soldiers died in this war in six months, tens of thousands wounded, maimed. Do you want more? No. Then protest, fight, run away or surrender to Ukrainian captivity. These are the options for you to survive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, the call up from Putin has sparked protests across Russia leading to more than 1,300 arrests. We've seen these emotional farewells as the mobilization gets underway. Look at this, Russian men leaving behind families to board buses for military service. Others are just trying to get out of the country all together. In this video, long lines of traffic are growing at some Russia's border crossings in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Mongolia, as men seemingly are trying to escape the war.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: The demand for flights out of Moscow is spiking dramatically. Tickets to countries where Russians don't need a visa are sold out. And on Google trends, the term leaving Russia saw a sharp spike in searches over the past 24 hours. According to a ticket aggregator, one way tickets out of Moscow to Istanbul start at more than $2,000 a ticket. Just to put this into context here before Putin's announcement, the tickets cost about $350. Let's bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman live for us in Kharkiv, Ukraine. You're in the region where these gains by the Ukrainians seem to have prompted this new phase by Vladimir Putin, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, you know, Bianna, as these referenda go ahead in the Russian occupied areas, I can tell you, yesterday, we were in areas that were occupied by Russian forces. And I can tell you in those areas, you would be hard pressed to find anybody who wants to live under Moscow's thumb.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice over): Anatoli is trying to make his demolished house a home again one nail at a time. But without a roof, plastic sheeting on the windows won't make much of a difference. This is all they could salvage.

Anatoli is overwhelmed by what he and his wife, Svetlana (ph) found when they returned to their village at Borodyanka. What can I say, he asks, you can see for yourself.

Svetlana (ph) was born in this house 53 years ago. Her reaction, pain, she says, shock, pain, terrible pain and bitterness, the fruits of a life's labor withered on the vine.

This is what happened to many of the towns and villages caught in the frontlines in this war. They were totally destroyed.

Up the road, residents unload relief supplies trucked in to the town Kozacha Lopan'. Mayor Vyacheslav Zadorenko is back in his office after months away. He says these armbands were handed out to the workers in the local Russian-installed administration, food provided to collaborators and newspapers. About 100 people were collaborators, he tells me. When the Russians left, most left with them.

Oleksandr (ph) from the mayor's office shows us where the town residents were brought for interrogation and tortured in a dark basement, as many as 30 people to a cell. Prisoners he says were seated in this chair and subjected to electric shocks.

Vadim spent a few days there. He recalls his interrogators beat him first, then asked questions.

They beat me on my back, my head, and then shoved me on the floor and kicked me, he says. Then gave me a cigarette and started the interrogation. They asked if I was pro-Ukrainian. I'm Ukrainian, I said, of course, I'm pro-Ukrainian. He was released but his son, Vladimir (ph), was taken by the Russians, he's still missing.

Vitali draws water from the neighbor well. He recalls when Russian soldiers asked if he and his wife had any Nazi's at home. This is a normal villages, he chuckles, and then telling, we're farmers and workers.

Kozacha Lopan' is the last stop on the train line before the Russian border. Soldiers took over the railway station. These are all letters and pictures sent by Russian school children to the soldiers here at the railway station, that things like this, pictures, and here's a letter from Alexander in the fifth grade who says, you are heroes. Thank you for guaranteeing our safe future.

Misguided, discarded messages of support for a disastrous war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (on camera): And now that Moscow is dispatching hundreds of thousands of reservists to the frontline in Ukraine, many more of those Russian school children are going to have to write those letters. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. Those letters are something, Ben. Thank you for sharing that report with us.

BERMAN: So, internal division, arguing amongst themselves, complaining to friends and family back home about Moscow's decision- making, that's how some officers in the Russian military are dealing with Ukraine's counteroffensive. That's according to multiple sources familiar with U.S. intelligence.

I want to bring in retired Army Major Mike Lyons. Major, great to see you.

First, just remind us where the Russian troops are in Ukraine. Where are most of them arrayed?

MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: So, because of the Ukrainian offensive, they made the majority of their troops down here in the southern part of the country and most of the Ukraine offensive came up from the north. So, this is where the Ukraine offensive in here.

But what's happened down here is the better troops are now aligned in the south holding off what they thought was going to be the main offensive here. The Dnipro River has become a huge advantage because they dropped these bridges along the Dnipro River.

So, the reason why Russian generals are concerned right now is because they recognize there's about 20,000 to 30,000 troops in this region right here that are at great risk, potentially could surrender. They could be surrounded, similar with what we saw with on battle of the bulge, and from a historical perspective, the Russian generals know we have got to get troops to reinforce this very quickly.

BERMAN: So, they're fighting here, they're fighting here. When we talk about 300,000 reinforcements, Putin is asking for 300,000, where would they go?

LYONS: Right. They have got to get to this spot right here because they recognize that Crimea is likely the Alamo for Russia. They cannot lose this area here. They cannot lose this land bridge right there. They've got Sevastopol, they've have the naval base that's there. That's their only warm water port. And 300,000 ,this is not inconsequential. I mean, it is a huge amount of men that they're going to get them to the lines there. And the question is how fast can they get them there. And they're not going to care whether they're trained or not. They're just going to throw them into the cannon fodder and see what happens.

BERMAN: When we hear the stories that CNN has reported that we're hearing from U.S. military officials, beyond low morale, horrible morale, dissension within the ranks, lack of communication, how does that impact the troops there?

LYONS: So, I think the way Ukraine gets real initiative back is, let's say, one of those major units there surrenders, you could have 20,000 to 30,000 troops of the Russian surrender, knowing full well that they are surrounded, knowing they're going to eventually be cut off there, because every time Russian soldiers surrender, they also surrender their equipment. That equipment gets turned right back around and use it against Russia.

BERMAN: You can really see how Putin is fighting a battle on the ground there, but very much this emotional and moral battle within Russia and within the troops there.

Mike Lyons, great to see you, thank you very much.

KEILAR: New York City is now opening emergency shelters to house the more than 13,000 migrants who have arrived in the city since April. Many are coming on buses sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and hundreds more are still pouring into the city each day.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is live on the ground in New York's Port Authority bus terminal. Tell us what you're seeing there.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Brianna, these humanitarian relief centers, they are just the latest into the city's evolving plan to deal with that increased number of migrants that are coming here to New York, most coming on their own, some still taking up the offer, as you just pointed out, from Republican governors, for a free ride north, but all of them certainly adding to the strain on resources here in New York City.

So, this is really just the latest step. These are temporary tented facilities. In fact, the city provided a couple of images of what they expect them to look like when the first one opens up in the Bronx in the coming weeks. They are being described as something that will be basically the first touch point for these migrants that are arriving here New York City. They will be offered food, according to the city, shelter, even some temporary housing but, really, only for a couple of days, no more than four.

They are hoping that during that temporary stay, they can place them in the city's shelter system, they can perhaps, for those who wish to do so, help them continue with their travel to other parts of the country, or potentially establish connections with some local social ties here. But, really, the city stressing two key points here, Brianna, that is that this will simply be a temporary solution for these migrants, really, again that very first stop, hopefully even bypassing the port authority bus station here in Midtown Manhattan, and hopefully go directly there, and also that these migrants will be free to come and go during their stay at this facility.

[07:08]

Again, in the coming weeks, they expect that to open in the Bronx with the family establishment to open hopefully in the few weeks after.

And, finally, Brianna, the Legal Aid Society, a group that's been advocating for these migrants, are already raising some questions about this because of the congregate setting but, nonetheless, are willing to work with the city as they try to place now at least 10,000 families still relying on the city shelter system, a number that's still growing this morning.

KEILAR: That is growing. Polo, thank you so much for that report.

BERMAN: So, a welfare scandal involving former NFL Quarterback Brett Favre in Mississippi has taken a dramatic turn this morning. The former director of Mississippi's Welfare Agency has pleaded guilty for his part in a multimillion dollar fraud scheme. Auditors say he and his co-conspirator stole more than $70 million for personal expenses and projects.

Now, Favre, for his part, one of the former quarterback's texts in all of this read, quote, if you were to pay me, is there any way the media can find out where it came from and how much?

CNN's Dianne Gallagher covering the story and brings us the very latest on where we are now what it means for Favre now, Dianne.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. So, John Davis, the former director of the Mississippi's Welfare Agency, pleaded guilty in state and federal court on Thursday in connection with what officials have called the largest public corruption case in Mississippi history.

In federal court, Davis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of theft from programs receiving federal funds. In part, in a statement, the DOJ said, at Davis' direction, Mississippi Department of Human Services provided federal funds to two nonprofit organizations and then directed the two nonprofit organizations to fraudulently work contracts to various entities and individuals for social services that were never provided.

Now, in state court just a short time after appearing in federal court, he pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy and 13 counts of fraud against the government.

Now, as leader of the Mississippi Welfare Agency, Davis oversaw the funds that were then funneled through these nonprofits into pet projects for celebrities and the politically connected, pet projects like a volleyball center backed by Brett Favre at his alma mater where his daughter played the sport at the time.

You may remember last week there were text messages that were released that you referenced there as part of a civil suit, a nonprofit founder, Nancy New, who has already pleaded guilty for her role in this conspiracy. And Brett Favre, former Republican Governor Phil Bryant discussed John Davis with Favre even talking about how he loved him and the millions of dollars that he would be getting for this volleyball center.

We should point out here that Favre has been named in a civil suit brought by the state of Mississippi but he has not been criminally charged. His attorney says that he did not know that the money was coming from welfare funds. Former Republican Governor Phil Bryant has not been named the defendant in the suit and, John, he has not been charged at this time. Davis is expected to be sentenced early next year.

BERMAN: Yes, a lot of questions still, though, to be sure. Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much.

KEILAR: Put up or shut up. The special master in the Mar-a-Lago search case is ordering former President Trump's legal team to prove claims he and they have made out of court that the FBI planted evidence during the search. Judge Raymond Dearie, who Trump's team recommended for the special master role, says the lawyers must submit a sworn declaration, which, of course, means under oath. Outside of court, Trump and his legal team have not faced any consequences for making these baseless and false claims. They've said with no proof that the FBI could have planted evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALINA HABBA, TRUMP ATTORNEY: And, quite honestly, I'm concerned that they may have planted something. At this point, who knows? I don't trust the government and that's a very frightening thing as an American.

CHRISTINA BOBB, TRUMP ATTORNEY: I don't think that there was actually anything there that's worthwhile. We'll see what they come up with. If they did, it'll be interesting, especially since they precluded me from actually watching what they did. But at this point, I don't necessarily think that they would even go to the extent of trying to planting information. I think that they just make stuff up and come up with whatever they want.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The problem you have is they go into rooms, they won't let anybody near -- they wouldn't even let them in the same building. Did they drop anything into those files or did they do it later? There's no chain of custody here with them.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Wouldn't that be on videotape potentially?

TRUMP: No, I don't think so. I mean, they were in a room.

[07:15:00] (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So, that's what they said publicly. Will they say it under oath?

Let's bring in CNN Political Analyst and Senior Political Correspondent for The New York Times Maggie Haberman. Her new book, Confidence Man, the Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, comes out on October 4th.

Maggie, it's obviously -- it's not the first time something that Trump or his lawyers have said publicly is being tested in court, but I wonder what you think the stakes are in this case?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, in this case, Brianna, I think the stakes are pretty clear, which that this is the handpicked special master, this is how who Donald Trump's team wanted, and he has sounded very skeptical of things that they have been saying all week, not just in this decision that came down yesterday but in a conference earlier this week, he sounded very eyebrow-raising about their claims.

Now, the special master was -- they have privately described this as the first step toward a possible eventual challenge of the FBI search on Trump's house. It's not going well so far. So, when the judge and the special master is making it clear, you can't say things outside of court that you are not demonstrating here. I think that becomes a problem.

And I do wonder, Brianna, this is what we saw before January 6th, 2021, after the November 2020 election, where Donald Trump's lawyers would make claims about widespread fraud that they wouldn't echo in court. And what we have seen is the impact of when Trump says something and it riles up his supporters, I have to wonder if that's in the special master's mind as well.

BERMAN: In this case, the difference is that the special master and judges are also saying, if you're going to say something, prove it. You've got to prove it now. Yet, the former president keeps on saying something and saying stuff.

And this got a lot of attention, Maggie, I want to play this now, but you have a different take on it. So, let's play it first. This was Donald Trump with Sean Hannity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Is there a process? What was your process to declassify?

TRUMP: There doesn't have to be a process, as I understand it. You know, there's different people say different things. But as I understand it, it doesn't have to be. You're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking about it, because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago or to wherever you're sending it. And there doesn't have to be a process. There can be a process but there doesn't have to be. You're the president. You make that decision. So, when you send it, it's declassified. We -- I declassified everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Maggie, what most people picked up on was the whole idea of declassifying in his mind as being something that doesn't exist on Planet Earth, but you picked up on something else that might be legally problematic for him there.

HABERMAN: Well, I picked up on both, John. I thought saying that he declassified something with his mind, I just want to be clear --

BERMAN: Also, you picked up something also, I should say, yes.

HABERMAN: Right. I just don't want this to sound as if it was in opposition because that was certainly unusual to hear. But he did say because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago, that, John, seemed to indicate that he had intended to send the boxes of material to his private club and home, whereas there has been this line from people around him that this was all you know an accident, things were just shipped out. He even said himself in the interview, which is not true, by the way, the general services administration, which is basically government officials had packed the boxes, they had denied that they did that.

So, they've tried leaning in on the idea that this was some kind of accident, and just now, he seemed to suggest this was intentional.

KEILAR: It's not the only legal issue he's facing, of course. There's this civil fraud suit now that he's facing that Letitia James, the New York A.G., has brought. And, you know, Maggie, whenever we see any legal action against Trump, he's able to say, look, they're after me. But I wonder in this case, does this hit on any vulnerability of his that is particularly sensitive, as you see it?

HABERMAN: There's no question that having a prosecutor stand up there and say he is not worth what he claims, he has made all kinds of statements about his finances that are not true is something that he has tried to avoid for many, many decades. So, just on a personal level for him, that cuts a little differently.

Brianna, how this ends up playing out, I just don't think we know yet. Again, this is a civil suit. As best as I can tell, she's not making any moves in court to try to limit what the Trumps can do in business while the suit is playing out. That does say something about how aggressively she's moving or not aggressively she's moving.

But it is another thing, as you say, that he will point to, to say, I am a victim, they're after me. He has been, I think, the biggest demagogue we have seen in politics, in national politics in this country in modern memory, possibly in the history of the country. And he is very good at using any time somebody is looking into possible misconduct or alleged misconduct and saying it's an example of just how unfair it all is.

BERMAN: Maggie, very quickly, I want to ask you about something you told Anderson the other night that jumped out at me, and it was about whether or not this makes it more or less likely he'll run from president again.

[07:20:02]

And you said something sort of separate from this, I hadn't really heard before, which is that you're hearing people around him questioning whether he really wants to put the effort in again. Explain that more.

HABERMAN: Sure. So, to be clear, John, that doesn't preclude whether he's going to run. There are plenty of candidates who have run even if they don't particularly seem to have their heart in it. What a lot of people I've talked to and says that he doesn't seem to be enjoying politics, enjoying rallies, enjoying the aspects of it that he liked before, not just when he was president but in the 2016 campaign that it just seems sort of different for him, and he doesn't seem as either interested or engaged or what have you. He may get there, it could change. And if it doesn't preclude him running, then it has limited utility as an observation. But it has raised questions for people about why his -- not his deadline but his timing for when he would get in had kept moving back.

Now, I expect it will remain beyond the midterms this morning. There's a Politico report out about some moves that he is making and I think that will lock him in further, but he has not seemed like the person who campaigned in 2016 and that could be for a lot of reasons.

KEILAR: Yes. It's really interesting because these are things that have animated him, that have energized him, and now, maybe not so much, what all is behind that.

Maggie, thank you so much, great to have you this morning.

HABERMAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Ahead, we have some new CNN reporting on how House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is plotting a path back to power.

Plus, tempers and emotions flare at the Alex Jones hoax trial. What he told Sandy Hook families while on the stand.

BERMAN: An American Airlines flight attendant attacked mid flight, the video ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: Caught on video, an unruly passenger on an American Airlines flight punching a flight attendant in the back of the head.

CNN's Camila Bernal has the story from Los Angeles. Camila?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, good morning. Look, it is shocking, it is scary, but, unfortunately, it's not uncommon. We are seeing a lot of these incidents happening on planes. And here's what we know, according to federal prosecutors and to passengers on the plane. This was a flight coming from Cabo to LAX. And the man who now has been identified as Alexander Lee, he was trying to use the restroom at the front of the plane. And the flight attendant told him, look, you're not a first class ticket holder, so you have to use the restroom in the back of the plane. There was a confrontation.

And the passenger wanted to go to the front of the plane to report this to the pilot. So, he starts walking towards the front of the plane and that's when he's attacked, punched in the back of the head. You hear people just screaming. You hear the oh my Gods, just everyone in shock.

As you mentioned, he had to be restrained. There were multiple passengers who had to hold him down, sit next to him for the remainder of the flight. And he did get arrested when he landed at LAX. He is facing a federal charge for interference with that flight attendant. He will never be allowed to fly on an American Airline plane. And he is expected on court on Monday. CNN has reached out to his attorney and we have not heard back.

But, look, these incidents went up in 2021. We saw an uptick of these kinds of incidents. And while they have reduced in 2022, enforcement is up. People want these -- or flight attendants want these people or these passengers to be held accountable for these unruly acts. John?

BERMAN: All right. Camila, that video, shocking, thank you so much.

BERNAL: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, one midterm election, two different campaigns, the issues candidates in the key state of New Hampshire are focused on.

KEILAR: Plus, CNN sitting down with Avatar Director James Cameron as excitement builds around the upcoming sequel. What he thinks about the state of Hollywood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CAMERON, FILMMAKER: While we may make a lot of money, we may not be profitable. And you don't do something that's not profitable for very long.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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