Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

Back in court and on the attack, donald trump facing the new york judge who already ruled that he has been committing fraud for decades. The legal trouble the former president now faces and the tirade that he unleashed on prosecutors. Plus disaster averted, at least for about a month. Lawmakers are already battling ahead of another potential shutdown. And House Speaker Kevin Mccarthys fight with matt gaetz just got uglier. Also who is Laphonza Butler . Governor newsom just named her to fill Dianne Feinsteins senate seat and other democrats are already running to take it from her. That is all coming in right here to cnn news central. Donald trump back on trial. And this time his Business Empire is on the line. Opening statements wrapped up in his Civil Fraud Trial in new york and here you see footage taken earlier inside the courtroom. Trump seated with his defense attorneys, new York Attorney general Latitia James appearing at the camera at some point. The judge allowing cameras to roll briefly before Opening Statements. And just a few moments before that outside the courtroom, trump once again unleashed on the prosecutor and the judge that he was about to face. Watch this. You have a racist Attorney General who is a horror show. So well go in and see a rogue judge. But this is a disgrace. You will go after this Attorney General. Lets take you live outside the courthouse with brynn gin gingras. Walk us through everything that weve seen today. Reporter yeah, it is intense that courtroom and actually my colleague ckara scannell, i thik that you want to hear from her because i was inside this courtroom as it was unfolding. But we did just wrap up Opening Statements in this trial. And we are taking a lunch break at the moment. But first we heard from the states attorneys who walked through Video Depositions essentially showing the former president and also Trump Organization members sort of deflecting so who prepared financial documents saying that they all allegedly conspired to commit persistent fraud for a number of years. And doing so, banks took on some serious risks. One of the quotes inside the courtroom, while it may be one thing to exanxious rate for forbes magazine, you cannot do it while Conducting Business in the state of new york. The states attorney wrapping up his opening states by essentially asking a judge to bar the trumps from ever doing business in new york. After that it was trumps defense who had their turn to give Opening Statements essentially saying that the president had a huge Business Empire, that he made millions and always com blied with the reg complied with regulatory requirements and that banks were eager to do business with him. And he said there is no illegality, no fraud, and there are no victims. The a. Gf also in that courtroom listening to all of this actually were told trump didnt even acknowledge her from the several times he left the courtroom and went back in. But in the last moment before leaving the courtroom for this lunch break actually did acknowledge there was an acknowledgement between trump and the Attorney General. And also were told eric trump went over and shook the Attorney Generals general. But lets hear from what she said before she went into the courtroom earlier this morning. Donald trump and the other defendants have committed persistent and repeated fraud. Last week we proved that in our motion for Summary Judgment. Today we will prove our other claims. My message is simple. No matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law. Reporter like i said, a lot of drama in the courtroom and kara scannell, tell us what it was like inside. As you mentioned the former president walked into the courtroom today and he didnt acknowledge the Attorney General. He had to walk past her three times. Only when he was leaving to devote out on the lunch break that he glanced over at her. Eric trump actually shook her hand and this followed some heated back and forth, one of ump theres attorneys saying to the judge in her Opening Statement that this was a witch hunt, this that this was something that Latistia James Hd campaigned on and she could have brought this case even before she conducted the investigation. The judge stopped her and send that this was something that he already ruled on, that an Appeals Court agreed with him and that james motivation was not an issue but politics looming large in the courtroom as it Opening Statement getting under way. The other attorneys were also pointing to the credibility of some of the witnesses and Defense Lawyer saying that Latitia James office will rely on Michael Cohen. He of course is trumps former fixer. James office credited him for why they opened the investigation in the first place because he had testified before congress that terrorism had inflated statements when he needed to and deflated them to gain other benefits. Cohen is expected to take the stand in this case. A portion of his Video Testimony was played in court but trumps lawyers saying he is a convicted felon, serial liar and someone that the judge should not believe because he is the one that will make the determine nation in this case. They are at lunch for now. Deter. They are at lunch for now. Donald bender is trumps long time accountant and he will be the person that cop opposed the Financial Statements for the Trump Organization for most of the decade under scrutiny. And he will be the first witness on the stand. And the Attorney Generals Office signaling also in their Opening Statement that it is not just Michael Cohen who shouldnt be relied on, they say that another Trump Organization executive will be testifying in this case and this person will say that the Trump Organization that they knew that he was told by Allen Weisselberg the chief Financial Officer that donald trump wanted his net worth high. And that is the heart of 9 the case because Attorney General is alleging that they inflated his properties all to increase his net worth on these Financial Statements and it was that net worth at the high level is what caused the banks to issue these loans, what caused the insurers to give them better rates. This is where the sparring will take place as the trial unfolds the next several weeks, the battle what have did the banks rely organization what statements were they told and something that the trumps attorneys are pushing back at. They spent some time focused on the value of maralago which tax assessment said it was 18 million and judge last week said that they inflated the value of maralago by a lot. And they are saying here that it is worth more than 9 adjustment. And so those things are at issue. And enormous implications for Donald Trumps Business Empire. And im fascinated by the exchange between the new York Attorney general and donald trump and then Donald Trumps son eric as well. In part because these proceedings have become so personal. You can tell us more detail about what the demeanor was like when she they shook hands . Reporter yeah, when donald trump was walking out of court, and he passed by Latitia James sitting there at the corner of the front row, he just glanced down at her. There was no locking of the eyes. It was more of a passing glance. But first time that he acknowledged her. Other three times he just averted his gaze. And eric trurmg when he was walking out trailing behind his father and his fathers legal team, he stopped, turned to Latitia James, actually reached out with both of his hands to shake her hand and they exchanged some words. I couldnt overhear it. But it was much more of a personal exchange particularly after the lawyers were sparring about this and the accusations flying over a Political Campaign and trump calling her allegations a witch hunt. So that one brief moment and first time that we saw any acknowledgement between both camps. It looked like the Attorney General and eric trump had a pleasant exchange. Shaking hands. At least some kind of a greeting. But the former president walked past her just looking will glancing in her direction but he didnt exchange any words with the tfrAttorney General and she didnt appear to catch his glance. All right. Well let you get back inside. Appreciate the live mic handoff between Britain Begin G Brynn g and kara scannell. Daniel, trump made a lot of claims some of which have already been rejected by this judge. Here is one of the first claims that trump made, being a part of what he said is according naltsed election interference. The trial was railroaded and fast tracked. It could have been brought years ago but they waited until i was right in the middle of my campaign, the same with other trials and indictments. It is all run by doj which is corrupt in washington. Everything goes through them. Daniel, fact check that for us. Those are baseless. First of all the idea that doj is orchestrating all of this is nonsense. There is not a shred of evidence that doj is directing the stale Attorney General in this state lawsuit. It is a state issue. The claim about waiting until the middle of trumps campaign, this trial is the result of a state Attorney General lawsuit that was brought in september 2022. And trump launched his campaign in november 2022. So this saga began before he announced his candidacy for the 2024 election and the investigation began in 2019 when he was president. So none of that what you just played has any basis in fact. I want to get into something that weve heard from trump on the specifics of this case. And that is this Disclaimer Clause. So much of what is at stake here has to do with how the Trump Organization and its cohorts Value Properties and things of that nature. Lets listen to the claim from the former president. We have a clause in the contract, it is like a buyer beware clause. It says when you take a look at the Financial Statement, dont believe anything you read. This is up front. Dont believe anything you read. Some people call it a worthless clause because it makes a statement and anything you read worthless. It says go out and do your own research. Is this what is called a full disclaimer. We disclaim the financials. But even with a full disclaimer, which immediately takes you out of any fraud situation and any litigation. So trump essentially saying that because there is an addendum that says that the numbers may have been fussed with, he cant get sued. He is saying that except that is not what the Financial Statement actually says. Nothing in those Financial Statements says that the asset valuations in those statements are supposed to be treated as worthless. The word he keeps using. So what is he even talking about . There is disclaimer language in the statements that says trump and his team used a variety of valuation methods to come up with the asset values they listed including sometimes estimates from trump himself and that they dont necessarily indicate how much you get from selling the assets because you could come up with different values using different methodology. But nothing in there says that the valuations are supposed to be completely ignored and treated as worthless. And this is what s is what the wrote, he says it doesnt use the word worthless or disregard. And repeatedly says it is giving current values. And the judge wrote that, quote, a defendant may not rely on a disclaimer for misrepresentation of facts particularly within the defendants knowledge. So the judge saying you cant just make things up just because you have a disclaimer even one as Skrag Asvague as this one. Daniel, stand by. Lets bring in our former federal pruosecutor. Lets start at the top. He is late to court because he is outside deriding the District Attorney, criticizing the judge. An unorthodox approach. Thats right. I mean, it is an approach though that has generated our discussion here. Were here talking about his attacks and i think that is exactly why he did it. The reality is the judge found that there was fraud here in a Summary Judgment ruling. The judge already ruled that those attacks are completely without any weight whatsoever in court. So obviously part of what is going on, miss hobb is not a very good attorney and she doesnt have good control of her client, but this is also a strategy for trump to get us talking about police talking points instead of what is going on in the courtroom. So this a Bench Trial Meaning there is no jury, ultimately the judge who makes a final ruling. How could trumps criticism of the judge work its way into the proceedings . You dont have to be a lawyer to know that it is not a good idea when you are trying to get the judge rule on your side to start throwing pot shots at the judge. That is common sense. So i actually think that the trump team has already decided internally that any are going to lose this trial. They basically are laying down her Opening Statement was essentially full of talking points for social media or for terrorisms base. It was not designed to try to win this trial and trumps statements 00 are not designed to maximize his chances at this trial. I think these are just talking points for his supporters. So what are the implications if the judge rules against trump . Could woule see the end of the Trump Organization as we know it . Certainly a lot of problems for the Trump Organization and vaech could be the end of the Trump Organization as we know it once it gets through the appeals process. Typically speaking any business in this sort of situation, where you have some of the nations best attorneys hanging this case, and it would be life or death for that company. I think that there is some element of dishonesty priced into dealing with the former president for some period of time, so this may be a delayed reaction for him. But he is getting to the point where the music is getting close to stopping and at a certain point when you are playing musical chairs, there begin to be consequences. He is getting very close to that time. So lets focus on the defense about the Disclaimer Clause attached to these contracts. Weve also heard foreshadowing from the defense saying some of the prosecutions witnesses are unre unreliable. And we heard from trump saying that he hasnt focused that much on the details of the financial work of his Organization Since he started his career in politics. How do those measure up as potential defenses for him . Well, the clause, the worthless clause, that is not so worthless in that the word doesnt appear as daniel mentioned. But that is a worthless defense. There is nothing to that defense whatsoever. You cant defraud people by lying to them and putting a bunch of falsehoods in a legal document and then having a footnote saying dont believe anything i said. That is not how the law works. If you trick somebody out of their money or you try to desouthe deceive the banks, you will be taken 9 the task to that. And just to have a footnote that says we may be lying in here, that is not a defense. In fact that could be evidence of your intent to try to trick the other person. But separately, i do think trumps lack of Attend Tafness and the fact that he has many businesses, that is a typical sort of fraud defense. In other words, i didnt have the intent to defraud because ive got more important things to focus on and i dont really focus on the details of these documents. That is more typical. Something to that, but i really think that trump has an uphill battle here in this trial given the judge, given the lawyers hes chosen and the tact that he is taking. We appreciate your perspective. Thank you. You just examined the legal ramifications here. But of course there is the political ramifications as well. And former President Trump wasting no time this morning turning this into a campaign event. Kristen holmes is outside tour. A trump tower. The campaign has had success capitalizing on these legal troubles. What more can you tell us about their strategy . Reporter weve seen them time and time again conflate the legal and political. He is running on these legal issues saying this is all election interference, that the democrats are out to get him, that the only reason he is being charged and indicted four times because democrats dont want him running against joe biden. But what we saw today was a little different. They essentially turned the trial into a campaign event. After he left trump tower, they lashed out on Latitia James, they went up to the mics attacking her. And really knowing where all the cameras were. Donald trump if you look at that statement that he gave when he entered the courthouse, he didnt just start speaking, he waited for the cameras to be on him, he waited for essentially any newscast to realize he was there and getting his statement out. This is a man who knows optics and knows visuals. And he gave us a bit of insight into what the next several months is likely to look like. Ive been talking to trump advisers over and over again about how will you navigate a 2024 president ial campaign and multiple looming trial dates. It appears that this is one way that they decided to do so, by making these dates essentially into him came campaign events. Trump using the same rhetoric. Take a listen. What we have here is an attempt to hurt me in an election. People are getting it, i can tell you the voters are getting it because every time they gave me a fake indictment i go up in the polls. Reporter one thing to note, yes, he does, but were still in primary season. And while we know this is clearly working with his base and republicans, putting it out there as legal challenges, it is unclear how it will look in a general election and whether or not it will sway the voters in the middle, the voters he would need to actually win in a general election. Krit sten holmes, thanks. And jeff zeleny is joining me now back here in washington, d. C. We heard her saying that he goes up in polls with every indictment. Is there a situation in which this particular case considering that it is focused on his reputation as a businessman which he talks about a lot moves the needle at all with the primary voter ors or is the cak baked . The cake is baked. But it gets to the heart of his identity. It will bother him without question. But i think this is a reminder, well see if he comes back after lunch, he told reporters he probably will, but this will go on until december. He wont be there every day, but he wants the cameras to focus all of the attention of the campaign on him. I heard from two of his republican rivals this morning who with exasperated that once again the focus is on him and they were hoping that they would have more time and Breathing Room between now and the Iowa Caucuses to get their own messages across. But each one of these cases is different. He called this a witch hunt. That is his umbrella term. But all of these cases are different. And youve been out on the Campaign Trial as much as i have talking to voters and there are voters who wonder that georgia case sounds complicated and problematic and then there is the u. S. Attorney case here in washington. It is confusing to people. But i think that it is adding up in the short term it might be good for him because it consumes oxygen, but long term it is not. People do get confused by all the indictments but the spotlight is on him. Youre right. Jeff zeleny, thank you so much. Still ahead, after dramatic showdown with hardliners to overt a Government Shutdown, Kevin Mccarthy is now fighting to keep his job. As for what comes next, matt gaetz says stay tuned. Gaetz spoke last hour railing against mccarthy and threatening a move to oust the speaker could still happen today or this week. This all comes after mccarthy struck a last minute deal with republicans. Manu raju caught up with gaetz. Here is what he had to say. If you lose this vote, will you continue to do this . Are you worried about throwing this institution into chaos, paralyzing an institution that your party runs . You know what i think paralyzes us . Continuing to governor by continuing resolution. Do you know what i think throw this is institution into chaos . Marching you will toward the dollar not be the global reserve currency. You talk about chaos as if it is me forcing a few votes and filing a few motions. Real chaos is when the American People have go through the austerity that is coming if we continue to have 2 trillion annual deficits. You dont know chaos until youve seen where this congress and this un uni party is bring us. Now Melanie Zanona is live for us on capitol hill. How is Kevin Mccarthy responding to all of this . Reporter Kevin Mccarthy is ready for this showdown. He knew this fight was going to come when he put the funding bill on the floor. And the threat has been hanging over his head the entire speakership. And mccarthy and his allies are ready to get it over with. Even though he has support of the majority of his republican conference, the reality of course he will need some democrats to side with him just because of the way the slim majority works. We asked mccarthy whether he would cut a deal or offer any concessions to democrats to side with him. He did not answer directly. Lets take a listen. Look, i think this is about the institution. I think this is important. Anytime somebody has a complaint, they want to [ inaudible ]. Reporter it is unclear what democrats are going to do. There are some differing viewpoints within the Democratic Caucus about how to proceed. I would say the majority of democrats dont trust Kevin Mccarthy, dont want to save him, dont like that he launched an Impeachment Inquiry into joe biden and how he handled this weekend after refusing to work with democrats for weeks and weeks leading up to the shutdown deadline. But there are some moderate democrats who just dont want to throw the house into chaos and they are in talks with some of the rank and file moderate republicans about what they could potentially do to come to some sort of deal where they could vote either present which would make it harder for gaetz to succeed or vote to table it which would kill. But as of this point, Hakeem Jeffries is counseling with his members. And so all eyes are on Hakeem Jeffries. All of this with another potential Government Shutdown looming just 45 days away. Melanie zanona, thank you so much. Plenty more news to come. Ahead, big shoes to fill. The california governor Just Announced his hand picked replacement for late senator dianne feinstein. Big news from out west, when we e come back. To duckduckgo on all your Devie Duckduckgo comes with a builtn engine like google, but its pi and doesnt spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. And theres no catch. Its fre. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. A lot of news coming off capitol hill. And we turn to the senate where a new member has been named. Governor newsom appointing Laphonza Butler to fill the seat left vacant by dianne feinstein. Kyung lah is tracking this from los angeles. What do we sknow about butler . Reporter a lot of California Democrats know her. She has run in very powerful circles here and known nationally for leading the Abortion Rights Group designed to elect Democratic Women across the country. But lets zoom in a little more on the historical nature of what this appointment means. Laphonza butlers appointment by Governor Newsom makes her the third black woman to serve in the u. S. Senate. There has not been a black woman senator since Kamala Harris left to become joe bidens vice president. She would be the very first black lesbian to openly serve in the u. S. Senate. And shes currently head of emilys list and shes also somebody here in california who is known to have powerful union roots. She is a powerful union leader. So wellknown for organizing and leading california to a 15 minimum wage that has been the standard here in california. What this does show, the appointment of butler does fulfill a promise that newsom made to appoint a block woman to fill that role that feinstein vacated. And this seat is empty in 2024. Representative barbara lee who was just on cnn said of course shes disappointed, that she would have liked to be the black woman who newsom had appointed. But she run to run her race. And also adam schiff was running for that seat. And katie porter. So you have three powerful democrats who are running and at this point the Governors Office tells us that they have not put any conditions on whether or not Laphonza Butler should or should not run in 2024. This appointment is without any strings attached. Cnn has reached out to butler but we have not heard back from her yet. That will be quite a race to watch. Kyung lah, thanks so much. Alarms glowing in ukraine after congress excludes aid. Cnn speaks with a ukrainian official who says chaos would rain around the world if america moves away from supporting kyiv. Historic show of solidarity in ukraine today as the foreign ministerses of the eu move their meeting to kyiv, First Time Ever convening outside the bloc to signal that they are solidly behind ukraine. Todays gathering is happening just after the u. S. Congress passed a short term Spending Bill that does not include 6 billion in aid which the senate requested for ukraine. And in the wake of that aid suspension Ukraines National Security adviser is expressing alarm telling cnn that america must choose between dark and light. Listen. Translator we need to see whether the United States is responsible for democracy in the world. Whether it remain as country that supports democracy. Whether it is a country that will stand by and watch the and you thauthoritarian state sees more. And were joined by max booth. Thanks for being with us. I do want to share with our viewers that you wrote an oped in the Washington Post detailing ukrainaid is a great investment, dont let maga republicans end it. You go into detail about why you say that would be a catastrophe. Lets step back. What do you think the basis is for the opposition to ukraine aid among these republicans . I think there is a lot of isolationism among republicans. I think that there is also some affinity for putin. I think a lot of it is being driven by donald trump. There are a lot of republicans who know better including Mitch Mcconnell who said this is not the time. And it is pretty obvious that there are bipartisan majorities in both chambers of congress that continue funding aid to ukraine, but we need to overcome the obstructionism of the small number of House Republicans. So max, you go into some of the arguments from the maga republicans in the oped specifically that those funds should be used for domestic priorities, that there is corruption in ukraine, that some of that money is being diverted away from the war. Those arguments though appear to be resonating with some 60 of americans according to recent polling. Why do you think that is . Well, they are resonating but i think that they are bad arguments. I think that they are resonating because they place into the isolation of the Republican Base but they are horrible arguments because the reality is that u. S. Aid to ukraine has been one of the most successful if not the most successful Foreign Policy initiative that the u. S. Has undertaken since the end of the cold war. For a relatively small investment, yes, were spending tens of billions on ukraine, but that just is onehalf of 1 of the defense spending. And so we are helping the people of ukraine to resist aggression. And in the process, were helping them to devastate the russian war machine. They arare inflicting the kind losses russia has not seen since world war ii and that is degrading dramatically one of the most threatening countries in the world that we face. And so ukrainians are fighting our battle for us and we dont have to risk a single american soldier. It is a tremendous investment and it would be the height of folwllow folly to cut them off. And do you have hope that there would be ukraine aid in the next phase of negotiating before the 45 day cr, continuing resolution, wraps and we face another potential Government Shutdown . I do have hope because at the end of the day, roughly twothirds of each house supports ukraine aid. Now, it is very ominous to see that there are now more House Republicans opposed to aid than in favor of it, but in the bigger picture, it is still about twothirds of each houses ukraine and not a lot of issues that you can point to that have twothirds support. So Kevin Mccarthy needs to do the right thing, put a bill on the floor right away, get the aid money flowing because ukrainians are fighting for their lives and they are fighting not just for their own security, but for our security as well. Max booth, we have to leave the conversation there. We appreciate you sharing part of your afternoon with us. Thanks for having me. And so we are tracking some new developments in the Georgia Election subversion case. A key trump ally has been subpoenaed to testify. First on cnn reporting on that is next. To duckduckgo on all your Devie Duckduckgo comes with a builtn engine like google, but its pi and doesnt spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. And theres no catch. Its fre. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. The former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik will have to testify in the election subversion case. He was not indicted but listed as a coresponsible tear tour in the case. Cnns paula reid is here. Paula, always great to see you, we know kerik wants immunity in the case. Why is that so important . Hes not named, but cnn has identified him as coconspirator number five. In the indictment, they allege meetings with lawmakers in pennsylvania and arizona, two states, of course, trump was contesting. He also attended at least one key meeting at the white house, along with trump attorneys so he could potentially be a really key witness for prosecutors as they try to determine what exactly trump allies were doing in and around the election. His attorney Tim Pellettiere tells us that theres no way testifying without immunity. His client said his client did nothing wrong but if hes on the stand without that assurance hes going to repeatedly invoke his Fifth Amendment right to every single day. In a letter to the District Attorneys office, he suggests that the District Attorney has no interest in indicting kerik, if they wanted to indict him, they would have done so. But they refused to put that in writing. Going forward, this shows the challenge that prosecutors could have, if they want it try to get some of these unindicted coconspirators to cooperate here. Weve reached out to prosecutors. And they have offered a no comment. And it is worth noting that he did cooperate with the Special Counsel, right . Its a slightly different situation, youre correct. He did sit down for an enintervw with the Special Counsel. What the difference there, hes a nonindicted coconspirator in the case. We dont expect that bernie kerik is going to be charged. That case of january 6th appears to be much more tailored but he does say in this letter to the District Attorneys office, look, if they want any grants of immunity they should be coordinating with Special Counsel jack smith. Paula reid, goo to see you. Well, of course, be following the latest developments from a courtroom in the civil trial of donald trump and his sons well have a live update next