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New Day

New Filing: Favre Pushed for Funds Despite Legality Concerns; Liz Cheney Says She'll Leave the GOP if Trump Gets 2024 Nomination; Hurricane Ian Threatens Parts of Florida Including Tampa Bay; Secretary of State Blinken Says U.S. Privately Warned Russia against Threatening Rhetoric on Nuclear Weapons. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 26, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's if they make a decision to go ahead and stay put. The last time that Tampa was hit directly by a hurricane was 1921, and officials are really concerned that if that storm makes its way here, we're going to see significant storm surge associated with it. We're talking about anywhere between six to eight feet of a storm surge. You're going to have all of that water being pushed up along the coast and into the Tampa Bay Area.

The mayor of Tampa yesterday told us that a decision on an evacuation hasn't been made just yet, but she was expecting to get a briefing this morning. And so we could be getting more information from her on that. Schools across Hillsborough County have been closed through at least Thursday considering that a lot of their buildings will be used as storm shelters. So that is giving us an early indication that it does seem like this county is moving forward to, at some point, go ahead and issue some sort of evacuation order for residents that live in a pretty low-lying area. Ladies?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: So that storm surge that they're preparing for, what exactly might that look like when it comes to the businesses and the homes in that area?

SUAREZ: Well, to give you a sense of how things look where we are right now, we're at a park that's surrounded by three bays, the old Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay, and then that third bay. And so what they're really worried about, especially the folks in Pinellas County, is that that storm surge is going to flood things no matter what. Even if that forecast track ends up having Ian moving parallel to Tampa Bay and the Tampa area, they still believe we're going to see a lot of that water making its way inland. And so they want folks to go ahead and come out and get these sandbags. The lines at these three locations were pretty long. And it's our understanding that they're going to continue to do this today, tomorrow, and most likely into Wednesday. However, emergency officials again have been telling folks, try to get this done early because we could see some of these effects starting Tuesday.

KEILAR: All right, very good advice to heed there. Carlos, thank you. ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: For a closer look at the path of the storm

let's get straight to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. So Chad, right now aiming for Cuba. Florida comes after.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. We do know where this is going for the next one and two days, but after the third day, the models are still not in agreement. And so the meteorologists are still not in agreement. It's a 75-mile-per-hour storm. Here is Cuba. We have our Patrick Oppmann right here in Havana. This will probably go around Pinar del Rio which is kind of on the western edge, a flatter area. And because it's flat, it won't take any of the effort of the storm, won't take any power away. It will still be 120 miles per hour here.

After this point in time, this is when the cone gets really big. And it's because of the time. This is five days away. But it's also because the models simply don't really get it quite yet. And the models don't have anything to do with this particular storm, but in general, the storm is going to stay inside that cone about two-thirds of the time.

A lot of talk on the Internet over the weekend. The Twitter-verse was just going crazy. Who is doing better, the European or GFS. Here was the European on Friday, here was European yesterday, and here's the European today. Here's the American model yesterday, here is the American model today. So you see we're getting this distance, getting smaller. So we do think we do know where this is going. and the closer it gets, as it is only one or two days away, it will fine-tune focus so that people out there can make life changing, lifesaving decisions.

HILL: Absolutely. Chad, appreciate it. Thank you.

KEILAR: We do have some new CNN reporting this morning. Text messages obtained by CNN reveal in late December 2020, a key figure in the scheme to overturn the election briefed then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about his attempts to gain access to voting systems in battleground states. Let's bring in CNN national security reporter Zachary Cohen to tell us about this. Tell us, what did you learn about these texts to Mark Meadows? Who was texting him?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, these are texts between Meadows and a guy named Phil Waldron. Waldron is behind some of the most outrageous proposals for overturning the election. We knew that he and Meadows had had some contact, but Waldron told "The Post" previously that they weren't pen pals, but apparently they were texting buddies, because Waldron is texting Meadows here in late December about his efforts to access voting machines in multiple key swing states starting with Arizona and starting with Georgia.

If you look at the messages here, it's clear that Waldron is briefing Meadows in real time about that effort and about his success or lack thereof. In the first message he talks about Arizona and how a judge failed to -- rejected their lawsuit there that would have called for his team to get access to voting machines in the state.

[08:05:00] He called it our lead domino and said, look, we're going to focus on Georgia now. But Arizona was really important. So these really do shed new light on the Trump White House's efforts to -- their knowledge of efforts to access voting machines in swing states and also working with a known conspiracy theorist to do it.

KEILAR: He's texting longer texts, Phil Waldron is, than Mark Meadows. But Meadows isn't shutting him down by any stretch. He's replying "pathetic" there. Why would Mark Meadows have thought that, yes, it's OK to be sort of -- I don't know if it's giving encouragement or whatever it is, to this person who is Mr. yes, Pentagon, DHS, you should seize voting machines?

COHEN: Yes, Brianna, we've seen this as a consistent pattern in Meadows' text messages, the ones that he handed over to the January 6th committee, he subsequently gave to DOJ and we obtained previously as well, that Meadows, sometimes his answers are short. But there is this implicit approval of what the person is saying because, like you said, he doesn't push back and he doesn't shoot down whatever idea is being sent his way.

KEILAR: We've heard a lot recently of these criminal investigations both at the state level and the federal level into these efforts to obtain, actually obtain voting machines, potentially illegally. Is this connected to that?

COHEN: There's no evidence that it's directly related to these messages that we're seeing from Phil Waldron. But it is notable that there are criminal investigations into efforts to seize voting machines, to access voting systems in Colorado, in Michigan, in Georgia, and some of the people that are targets in those investigations are known associates of Phil Waldron as well. So there is this interesting overlap between the two even if there's not a direct line yet.

KEILAR: Really interesting connection. Zach, thank you for the reporting.

COHEN: Thank you.

HILL: This morning 13 people are dead including seven children after a gunman opened fire inside a school in Russia. Investigators say the man was wearing a black t-shirt with Nazi symbols and a helmet. He's reported to have taken his own life after the attack. CNN reporters are covering the latest around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jomana Karadsheh in Istanbul. Crowds estimated in the hundreds of thousands took to the streets of the Iranian capital and other cities on Sunday in these mass organized pro government rallies. State media says they were out to show their unity, their outrage against the so-called rioters, referring to the protesters. The government still appears to be dismissing the grievances of the thousands of young Iranians who have taken to the streets in recent days as a foreign plot to destabilize the Islamic Republic. Despite an intensifying crackdown and severe Internet restrictions, we saw protesters back out on the streets on Sunday night, still appearing defiant, chanting the now familiar slogan "We are all together. We are not afraid."

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I'm Barbie Nadeau in Rome. And here in Italy people are waking up to the prospect of the farthest right leaning coalition government since the fall of fascism, the end of World War II. This comes with the victory of the center right coalition led by the far right party of the Brothers of Italy led by Giorgia Meloni, now slated to become Israel's first female leader. Her coalition was anchored by a Donald Trump loving Matteo Salvini and his League party and longtime political veteran Silvio Berlusconi and Forza Italia party. As the way Italian politics work, it's going to take a little bit of time and bureaucratic maneuvering before she's worn in, which is expected to be in mid-October.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Clare Sebastian in London. Rock legend and Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has canceled a series of concerts in Poland next spring after his controversial views on Ukraine caused a local uproar. A town counselor in the city of Krakow had called for a meeting this week to try to ban him from playing in the city. Earlier this month Waters wrote an open letter to the Ukrainian first lady saying he did not think the west should supply weapons to Ukraine, and that since Zelenskyy's election, quote, forces of extreme nationalism had ruled the country and it crossed red lines set out by the Kremlin, statements mirroring Russia's justification for its February invasion. In a statement on the cancellation, Waters said he wanted to encourage all parties in the Ukraine war, quote, to work towards a negotiated peace.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KEILAR: This morning Secretary of State Tony Blinken says the U.S. has privately warned Russia to tone down its threatening rhetoric on nuclear weapons. He says the Kremlin has been told that the consequences would be dire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're focused on making sure that we're all acting responsibly, especially when it comes to this kind of loose rhetoric. We have been very clear with the Russians publicly as well as privately to stop the loose talk about nuclear weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Privately, the United States has been in communication with the Kremlin about these threats of nuclear war?

[08:10:04]

BLINKEN: Yes. It's very important that Moscow hear from us and know from us that the consequences would be horrific, and we made that very clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: CNN anchor and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is with me now. I wonder what you think about that. And by the way, Blinken calls it loose talk, but Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is saying no, Putin is not bluffing here.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Putin said himself, right, this is not a bluff. Listen, these communications have been going on for some time. There's a reason that U.S. officials are speaking publicly about what has been until recently private conversations. And that is based on officials I speak with that the level of concern has grown about how serious Putin and other Russian officials are.

It is still an outlier. U.S. officials do not believe that Russia is likely to use nuclear weapons, still an outlier. But they're more concerned about that outlier possibility today than they were a week ago or a month ago. And that's partly because of those statements that you hear from Russia, but not just that. It's also because he's on his back foot. He's retreating. And the view has been for some time that Putin cannot lose. So that the further he's backed up against the wall, the more desperate he becomes, the risk of something so severe becomes higher.

One thing I should note, to date, the U.S. has not seen, and this is important, any physical movements of Russian nuclear forces, right. These are tactical nuclear weapons that can be launched, artillery, missile, exactly, at short range. The U.S. has the capability to see if Russia is moving those forces. To date they have not. But the rhetoric, the calculation, Russian losses in the field have raised U.S. concerns.

KEILAR: Really interesting. So when we look at what is happening in Russia, all of the protests, we see -- he's calling it a partial mobilization, but this is conscription of Russians, and a lot of them are actually leaving the country because they don't want to be drafted, right? The military is in disarray at the highest levels. Is Putin losing control here?

SCIUTTO: I think losing control is -- we talk about outlier. The possibility remains an outlier. It's still a massive police state. He has tremendous control of all the levers of power there. The security forces, the military, everybody with money, he controls their money, right. So anybody who is powerful and has money, they have it because of him. So he has tremendous control.

But you're seeing people push the limits in the way that they haven't frequently in Russia before, and that's a problem for him. But the distance between where we are right now and that being a genuine threat to his leadership and power, there's still a fair amount of distance there.

That said, this is not insignificant because you and I know all these people face tremendous risks by doing what they're doing right now, to their lives, their freedom, to their families' lives and freedom. So that's something.

KEILAR: Yes, it is a big risk they're taking. Jim, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

Reaction after Congresswoman Liz Cheney threatens to leave the Republican Party if Donald Trump becomes the nominee.

HILL: Plus, even the more optimistic economists are concerned we are, in fact, headed toward a recession. The chief economist at Moody's Analytics joins us ahead.

And more details about that welfare fraud scheme involving Bret Favre. What a new court filing is revealing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:07]

HILL: This morning, new details in the Brett Favre scandal involving the misuse of welfare funds to build a volleyball facility in Mississippi. Text messages revealed that Favre I've kept pushing for that money even after being warned it was potentially illegal.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is live in Charlotte, North Carolina with more.

Boy, a new day, new revelations here -- Dianne.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica, and this new filing comes from former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant's team in their quest to keep the totality of his communications about this volleyball center private, or at least out of the public and the media's eye. They argue that he didn't know about the welfare money being used and to prove it, they include text messages, very select text messages, the majority with or about Brett Favre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GALLAGHER (voice over): A new bombshell Court filing puts former NFL quarterback, Brett Favre under further scrutiny. In it, lawyers for former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, write that Favre continued working to obtain funds for a multimillion dollar volleyball center at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi where his daughter played the sport at the time, despite being told that it could possibly be an illegal use of State funds.

The funds for this project were part of a broader State audit that found $77 million of Federal welfare grant funds meant for the temporary assistance for needy family programs in Mississippi were used instead to help fund projects desired by the politically connected and celebrities including Favre.

In the filing, an attorney for Bryant produced text messages between his client and Favre arguing that Bryant pushed back on Favre's requests for funding.

In July 2019, Bryant texted Favre: "Use of these funds is tightly controlled. Any improper use could result in violation of Federal law. Auditors are currently reviewing the use of these funds by family first. As soon as the audit is complete, we will know if the project at USM is a proper expenditure."

Favre continued to press the governor in September writing: "We obviously need your help big time and time is working against us and we feel that your name is a perfect choice for this facility and we are not taking no for an answer. You are a Southern Miss alum and folks need to know that you are a supporter of the university." Bryant responded: "We are going to get there. This was a great meeting, but we have to follow the law. I am too old for Federal prison."

According to investigators, more than $4 million was used to build Favre's desired volleyball center. And according to the new filing, Favre also tried to secure additional funds for an indoor football arena he hoped would attract better recruits.

The State Department of Human Services led by then Director John Davis gave more than $98 million to two nonprofits according to the State audit. $94 million of that money was either misspent or possibly illegally spent.

[08:20:02]

GALLAGHER (voice over): One of the two nonprofits, the Mississippi Community Education Center run at the time by Nancy New paid Favre over $1 million for speaking engagements he did not attend according to the auditor.

Favre repaid the State that money, but did not repay the interest owed on the funds according to the auditor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Davis, as relates to count one, conspiracy, how do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?

JOHN DAVIS, FORMER MDHS DIRECTOR: Guilty.

GALLAGHER (voice over): Davis pleaded guilty to Federal charges including one count of conspiracy and one count of theft, as well as 18 State charges last week. Nancy New and her son were convicted in April for their roles in the scheme. Favre has not been criminally charged, but he is a defendant in a civil suit. His attorney claims he did not know where the funds came from.

PAUL H. HOLMES, ATTORNEY FOR BRETT FAVRE: Brett couldn't have been more honorable in any of it. He had no idea where it came from.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GALLAGHER (on camera): Now again, all of those new texts are coming from a filing from Bryant's team, but it's in response to a subpoena from the attorney representing the nonprofit that Nancy New founded and that's because Nancy New has accused Bryant of directing her to pay Favre that $1 million for those speeches. That's an allegation that Bryant has denied.

Erica, Phil Bryant has not been charged with anything and he has not been named as a defendant in the State's civil suit. Both New and John Davis are working with law enforcement. HILL: Dianne Gallagher, it feels like we have a lot more to learn,

doesn't it? I appreciate the update.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

HILL: Just ahead, why a GOP Congresswoman suggest there is pressure on Republicans to impeach President Biden.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And Elon Musk facing what could be a day's long deposition with Twitter after backing out of that multibillion dollar acquisition deal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:44]

KEILAR: Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney says that she will leave the Republican Party if Donald Trump is the presidential nominee in 2024.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Will you remain a Republican, regardless of what happens in the next election?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I'm going to make sure Donald Trump, make sure he is not the nominee. And if he is the nominee, I won't be a Republican.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So what does this say about the future of Liz Cheney and the future of Republican politics?

Joining us now is "Washington Post" columnist, George F. Will. He is also the author of "American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent 2008 to 2020," which is out now in paperback.

George, thank you so much for coming into the studio this morning to talk about this.

What do you think about what you hear from Liz Cheney there? Does it matter if she is not part of the Republican Party?

GEORGE F. WILL, COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I guess, I think it is about time. I left the Republican Party six years ago. I came to Washington to work on the Republican Senate staff in 1970. I can tell her that there is life after the Republican Party.

It is not like leaving the family or a church or something, it is just that parties are useful until they're not useful anymore. And if she comes to the conclusion, as I did then in June 2016 that the Republican Party wasn't for people like me believe.

KEILAR: She is talking about leaving. Has the party already left her? WILL: Well, that was Ronald Reagan saying about the Democratic Party.

He'd been a New Deal Democrat. He said, "I didn't leave the Democrats. They left me." They've certainly left a lot of us. The question is, do you stay and fight?

They nominated Trump in '16. They nominated him in 2020. The platform of the Republican Party in 2020, was our platform is whatever he wants. If they nominate for a third time -- three times is a pattern, it's a habit, and it's not a virtue. So, I think she'd be fair to conclude that she has to shop elsewhere for a political home.

KEILAR: If Republicans take over Congress, there is discussion right now about potentially impeaching Joe Biden, and we heard this from Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace yesterday on "Meet the Press" about the pressure that they are facing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS HOST: You expect an impeachment vote against President Biden, if Republicans take over the House?

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): I believe there's a lot of pressure on Republicans to have that vote, to put that legislation forward and to have that vote. I think that is a something that some folks are considering.

If that happens, I do believe it's divisive, which is why I push back on it personally, when I hear folks saying they're going to file Articles of Impeachment in the House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What would they impeach him over, I guess is my question to you. What do you think they would impeach him over?

WILL: I mean, what high crime and misdemeanor?

KEILAR: Yes.

WILL: Well, I suppose they could say on the student loans. He had no authority to do what he did. Presidents have been doing this since the New Deal. Donald Trump, also you remember when Congress would not fund his border wall. He took money from a Defense Appropriation and repurposed it, rather grandly and completely unconstitutionally.

It would be better for Congress to stand up on its hind legs and reassert its power over the purse and its constraints on the executive rather than to try and impeach. The last time the Republicans decided to impeach someone on a pretty flimsy pretext, an impeachment that was clearly disproportional was over Monica Lewinsky and that didn't go so well for the Republicans who managed to lose congressional seats in the midterm of a second term of a President. Hard to do.

KEILAR: As you are looking, let's go a little further afield, looking at Italy right now with Giorgia Meloni having claimed victory, the most far-right Prime Minister since Mussolini, and you hear a lot of people looking at that. And they are raising -- they are ringing alarm bells about it. How are you seeing this moment?

WILL: Well, first of all, right and left are hard to apply to Mussolini who began life as a firebrand socialist journalist and was a socialist forever.

[08:30:08]