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Two Juveniles Charged in Kansas City Mass Shooting; Testimony Continues in Fani Willis Hearing; Ruling Expected in Trump Civil Fraud Trial; Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Dies. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 16, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The fact that they have chosen Joe Biden as the -- their nominee for the Democrats and Donald Trump as their nominee for the Republicans.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: All right, thanks very much, Isaac, for that.

And thanks very much for joining INSIDE POLITICS on this very busy Friday afternoon.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Empire at risk. A New York judge could deliver a major blow to former President Trump's identity as a successful businessman. We are waiting for a verdict that is expected to come at any moment in his civil fraud trial.

And Putin critic dead. The Russian Prison Service says Alexei Navalny died in prison. President Biden just now laying blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was Navalny just yesterday. He appeared in court via video. He even cracked jokes. So what we are learning now about the final hours before his death.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And many questions remain unanswered after the deadly shooting in Kansas City. We are hearing, though, from some of the youngest victims that were at the victory rally for the Kansas City Chiefs, including a 10-year-old boy who says a bullet missed his lungs by mere inches.

We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Welcome to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Brianna Keilar, alongside Boris Sanchez here in Washington.

And any moment now, former President Trump will learn the fate of his business empire. We are awaiting the judge's final ruling in the former president's civil fraud trial in New York. He was already found liable for fraud. Just to be clear here, that is decided. What's left is the punishment for the former president, his two oldest sons and his real estate business. The New York attorney general seeking hundreds of millions of dollars

in penalties and also for Trump to be permanently banned from doing business in the state.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it is a big day legally for the former president, especially on the criminal side, because Donald Trump's Georgia election subversion case is under a microscope right now.

Defense lawyers are trying to get district attorney Fani Willis kicked off that case over allegations that she was self-dealing with her top prosecutor. Sources tell CNN that Willis' team thinks she did enough to quash that disqualification bid during this combative testimony we witnessed live yesterday.

CNN anchor and chief legal analyst Laura Coates is live for us outside the courthouse in Atlanta.

Laura, we were watching those fireworks alongside you. Clearly, the prosecution felt that Fani Willis did enough in that testimony to not ask her back on the stand today for cross-examination.

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, fireworks indeed, Boris, if you think about what happened yesterday, explosive testimony by someone we did not expect to hear from.

That's the DA, Fani Willis, who, as you know, is being asked to be disqualified. And if she's disqualified, it's not just her. It's her entire team. It would have to be a new prosecutorial team that would be appointed or assigned, which would kick this can way down the road, if it ever even reaches there.

And, remember, it's so important to them to actually prove -- she has a burden of proof in the criminal trial, but she's not a criminal defendant here. She does not have the burden of proof of showing that she had a conflict of interest that rose to such a level as to undermine the chances of every defendant having a fair trial.

The burden is on those who brought the motion to disqualify. And they have to show some sort of financial benefit was gained by her relationship with Nathan Wade. And what they have been trying to do is show a through line, that somehow the money that was received by Fulton County or state of Georgia is a through line all the way to the vacations they took, the nature of their dating and romantic relationship.

If they fail to prove that connection, it's a problem. But lingering here in the ether is whether they have lied about the start date of their romantic affair. Did they say at a date that was before or after the hiring and which is to be believed?

So far, only one witness has ever testified, and that witness has some credibility issues. It's potentially a disgruntled employee. There was no follow-up to figure out what she was saying. It was a little bit vague. So what would happen there, they have got to prove those two things, and she's not on the stand to talk about it.

KEILAR: Yes.

And, Laura, today we also learned that Willis' advisers had previously urged her to have Wade step aside?

COATES: Yes, there was a lot of concerns when all of this came to light and before they filed their responsive motions about whether he should in fact step down.

[13:05:00]

But it also goes back to whether he ought to have been hired. Today, you had on the stand the former Governor of Georgia Roy Barnes. His job is a trial attorney. He obviously was a former Democratic governor of Georgia many years ago, the last Democratic governor to sit in Georgia.

He was called to the stand today because he had previously been asked by Fani Willis, presumably before she had Nathan Wade sign on, to actually be the lead prosecutor. He's got extensive experience. This has been made an issue prior to today.

He testified, look, I didn't want the job. I had mouths to feed at my law firm. This essentially was not going to be worth the price, the juice not worth the squeeze. And he didn't want security, he said, for the rest of his life.

He did talk about Nathan Wade as a great organizer and was not surprised that he was a part of the team. This is a big, big issue. And, finally, they had Fani Willis' father on the stand today. His role really was to talk about whether, A, he knew about Nathan Wade as a romantic interest. He did not.

And, B, whether she actually did have valid safety concerns to leave her home in Georgia to then go to the condo that was much at issue yesterday. Now, those bringing the motion are trying to suggest that that was a kind of a love shack, a way for her to have a more covert space for her and Nathan Wade to entertain their relationship.

She says she moved out of her home because she was unsafe. The father supported that today, talking even about graffiti of the N-word and the B-word and bomb sweeps and crazy people outside of her home. So he really tried to corroborate that.

But I will finally say this. There was a moment when he admitted to watching the news yesterday, reading newspapers and beyond, which made some of the defense counsel say that his testimony ought to be stricken. But the judge said that will go only to his credibility, not striking his testimony.

KEILAR: Yes, he certainly did speak to those threats very convincingly.

Laura Coates, thank you for that.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams and Tia Mitchell of "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." Elliot, what has stood out so far in the stand to you today? And do

you see overall the defense meeting its burden or not?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I do.

Let's start with that second part. I don't see the defense meeting its burden, and for a big reason. It's important to get out of the drama and the nonsense about did she like wine or Grey Goose or anything else and focus on the central legal question, which is, number one, did somebody make a false statement in an affidavit to the court, and, number two, was there a manner in which the prosecutor was enriched off of state funds?

And when you strip it all away, there actually isn't a ton of evidence that they provided that actually directly links the two. Now, was it improper or icky or yucky or just something that reflects poorly on either Ms. Willis, Mr. Wade or the office? Well, certainly.

And that's for people and voters and the public to decide. But in terms of a disqualifiable conduct that the defense has established, I don't think it's totally clear yet.

SANCHEZ: To that question of public perception, Tia, I'm wondering what you're hearing from folks in Fulton County about what they saw unfold yesterday, because, ultimately, a jury of your peers decides whether you're guilty or not.

A jury is going to have to be drawn to make decisions in this case. And many of them potentially that are going to be involved, could have witnessed what we saw yesterday as well.

TIA MITCHELL, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": Yes, so I think the court of public opinion is very mixed, depending on, again, perhaps where you already were leading on the case.

So people who were inclined to support Fani Willis, to support this investigation and the charges that resulted against former President Trump, there were a lot of people saying her testimony was yes, blunt, straightforward, maybe a little combative, but they felt that she did well yesterday defending herself, defending her actions and redirecting focus back on the people who are actually, as you point out, Boris, going to face trial potentially.

But then you did see some reaction that was more mixed, people who felt that she didn't do herself favors by coming in so hot, coming in so adversarial. You saw some posts, perhaps, like on social media saying she seemed combative and unprofessional.

So, again, I think it was mixed. But I think one of the big takeaways from a lot of people was that Willis was right. She is not the one on trial.

KEILAR: Yes, and some people aren't going to like that she was combative.

And some people, Elliot, are going to love that she was combative. I think she probably had a sense of that, and she chose. I wonder, because she was saying yesterday, when you meet him talking about her dad -- well, we met him today. How do you think that he did as a witness?

WILLIAMS: He was certainly compelling, affable. There are witnesses that you like putting on the stand.

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Now, the question is, how does this affect the underlying case? And, again, getting back to the defense not meeting their burden, there's conflicting evidence all around. Again, remember, you have the two people who were allegedly part -- or not allegedly -- who have admitted to being part of this relationship.

They're saying it didn't start after a certain point. You had one witness saying something different. That's a conflict in evidence. And no matter what we might think, it's sort of a muddy mess.

Now, her dad was long-winded, but I don't think really cleared up or create a slam dunk one way or the other. So, when it's all such a big mess, it sort of, I think, counts against the defense.

SANCHEZ: His testimony about his use of cash and his advice to his daughter about using cash seemed to weigh in on what you were talking about, that question of whether she reimbursed Nathan Wade for some of those trips that they took.

On the question of Nathan Wade, there are sources that indicate that people close to Fani Willis have told her that he has to go as the lead prosecutor. How does that potentially complicate this case moving forward?

WILLIAMS: You know, there's, again, legal questions and then practical or prudential questions.

It seems obvious to everybody at this point that, yes, he probably needs to go just for the public perception. There is at least the appearance of impropriety. And that alone -- you're going to have to put this in front of a jury. And the jury in Fulton County, Georgia, has been watching this play out every day.

Even accepting that people have different views about extramarital relationships or paying in cash, it simply doesn't matter. We are in the real world, not fantasy lawyer land. And at a certain point, you have got to be willing to put this in front of the public.

KEILAR: And, Tia, there's two things going on here. There's a legal path and, as you were talking about, there's public opinion.

She had opened herself up to criticism, she and Nathan Wade had, with their relationship here. Does this testimony in a significant way, affect, do you think, the perceived legitimacy of the case in Georgia and beyond?

MITCHELL: So, I don't know -- again, I think that depends on where you already were approaching the case.

Of course, there were people already who felt that the case was partisan, it was politically motivated. For example, when Fani Willis wanted to charge one of an elected official as an elected co- conspirator, he got his charges kind of put on hold because Fani Willis had raised funds for his political opponent ahead of the 2022 election.

So, there are people who already had felt that there were missteps from the district attorney. And they said that's indication that perhaps she didn't have the purest motivations. This feeds into that. This has been very high-profile.

It has been damaging not only to public perception of the case, but to public perception of the district attorney as an elected official, who I should note is up for reelection. That being said, I don't think it's disqualifying. I don't think, in and of itself, without more evidence, to Elliot's point, that it would doom her politically or doom the case.

But again, it hasn't been helpful. I think even people who want to support her and who think the case is solid, they want the case to move forward, even they are saying the revelation of this relationship was not great. It was not a good thing. It was not a good decision.

SANCHEZ: Tia and Elliot, please stand by. We do want to let our viewers know we're still monitoring what's happening in the courtroom there. Those were live pictures we were watching.

We want to pivot now to New York, where, at any moment, the judge will deliver the final ruling in Donald Trump's civil fraud trial.

Kara Scannell joins us now.

And, Kara, you have been tracking this. There's no proceeding in court that we're anticipating today, no public announcement. This is going to get posted online. So I imagine that you have been refreshing the Web site nonstop the whole day.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, literally Boris, refreshing it right now.

(LAUGHTER)

SCANNELL: Nothing has hit the docket just yet, but we are looking for this ruling.

It is a significant moment in this case, this investigation that has been going on for five years that was started by Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen's testimony on Capitol Hill, where he made this allegation that Trump had inflated the value of his assets.

So we have gone from there in 2019 through a three-month trial and now waiting for the judge's decision in this case. The judge has already found that Trump is liable. The question here is how much money will he have to pay as a result of that and whether he and his sons are banned from doing business in New York.

The New York attorney general is seeking more than $370 million and a lifetime ban against the former president and a five-year ban against the sons. Now, Donald Trump and his two sons both testified during this trial. Trump had acknowledged some role in the preparation of his financial statements, part of this alleged fraudulent scheme.

But we will be looking to see what the judge says about his intent in this. There are six other civil claims that apply to some of the defendants in this case. Looking to see what the judge says there. I mean, the judge has already signaled that he does not buy a lot of the defenses that Donald Trump had put up during the trial.

[13:15:14]

In an opinion he issued in December denying Trump's motion to call the case in his favor, he rejected some of the arguments that he made. He rejected the testimony of some of the witnesses, saying that you can make arguments about how to value properties, but -- quote -- "A lie is still a lie."

So Trump's team is anticipating a loss here. They have already indicated that they're going to appeal and they're going to appeal that earlier finding. But we're really looking to see now just what is going to be the impact on the Trump Organization, the properties that it controls and runs in New York and elsewhere and just how big of an impact this will be on Donald Trump's wallet.

He had just -- a jury had just awarded E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million. Donald Trump is on the hook for that. And now looking to see how big this, what -- it's called disgorgement, this returning of the gains he got as a result of the fraud, just how big that will be.

So, just continuing our refreshing. I don't see anything yet, but we will keep you posted.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: A hotly anticipated decision coming from Judge Arthur Engoron at any moment.

Kara Scannell, we appreciate you staying on top of that for us.

It is a busy news day here at NEWS CENTRAL.

Still to come: Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny reported dead in a Russian prison. President Biden just addressed this and says he is looking into different potential responses by the United States.

Plus, we just got a major update in that shooting in Kansas City. We're learning that two juveniles have been charged for opening fire at the Kansas City Chiefs' victory rally days after the Super Bowl. We have a live report coming in just moments.

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[13:21:02]

KEILAR: We're following some breaking news in the deadly mass shooting in Kansas City.

Authorities have charged two teens that they detained immediately after dozens of people were shot while celebrating the Chiefs' Super Bowl win.

We have CNN's Whitney Wild and Shimon Prokupecz in Kansas City following this story.

First to you, Whitney. Tell us what we know about these charges.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that these two juveniles are being charged with gun-related and resisting arrest charges.

But at this point, we know very little, Brianna, because these are juveniles. We don't know their names. We don't know their ages. Law enforcement is saying, though, that the expectation here is that more charges are eventually going to be filed.

Right now, those two juveniles are in a juvenile detention center. The question which would elicit much more information is whether or not these juveniles will eventually be charged as adults. If that were the case, this would work its way through the court system in a completely different way where we would have much more access to the details of this investigation.

We'd have much more access to information about these two juveniles who've been detained. But, right now, again, as I said, we don't know their names. We don't know their ages. The Jackson County prosecutor has released a statement saying that his office works very closely with juvenile officers, but doesn't technically oversee them.

But, again, they do expect to be in these hearings with the juvenile officers. They work with them very closely. So there are many more questions to answer here, Brianna. But, again, what we know now is that they are apparently getting closer to justice, these two juveniles charged with gun-related and resisting arrest charges, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Whitney, thank you.

And, Shimon, this is interesting, no murder charges. What does this tell you? What questions does this raise for you?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly means there's a lot more investigation for law enforcement to conduct.

You have to think of this situation. This is something that came to mind to me yesterday when I was asking the police chief if there was issues with charging these individuals. It was a very crowded area, even though there are a lot of people, but panic ensued almost immediately, understandably. So the question becomes, like, are they waiting for more forensic

evidence to tie these two individuals to the shots that were fired, to the gunshots that were fired? Because, right now, all we know is that they are charged with resisting arrest and gun offenses, a violation of gun offenses, because they're juveniles and they possessed these weapons.

So they're not charged as of right now with any of the assault charges, attempted murder, or murder of the deejay that was killed there, the woman that was killed. So, obviously, it just appears that they need to conduct a lot more of the investigation to try and link these two juveniles to the attempted murder, to the shootings, and obviously the murder.

The other thing is that is a big question here, will they be charged as adults? There's a whole complicated process that needs to go on here for that to happen. I was actually over at the juvenile justice detention center, where these two individuals are being held this morning, trying to understand the process.

But there's all kinds of things that need to take place here. Judges need to get involved. And we -- it could be some time that we have -- that we will learn the names of these individuals. The proceedings are closed, so we can't go inside. Certainly, their families are aware, their lawyers are aware, but there's not a lot of information that the police are going to release publicly.

The fact that they were charged, they were actually charged yesterday, but we're only learning of the charges today, raises a lot of questions also. So, I just think, for police right now, they need to do a lot more investigation to try and link them. It's probably much more complicated than we think, given everything that happened there and the number of people that were involved.

[13:25:02]

So there's probably a lot more work here, Brianna, that investigators need to do.

KEILAR: Yes, and the sort of opaqueness because of their ages, as you mentioned.

Shimon Prokupecz and Whitney Wild, thank you to you both live for us from Kansas City, Missouri.

Still to come: a former FBI informant now charged with lying about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden's business dealings. How this could impact Republicans' efforts to impeach the president.

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