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Sources: G7 Expected to Announce $50B loan to Ukraine; Nathan Wade's Team Breaks Interview When Questioned on Fani Willis Relationship Timeline. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 13, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Just in, Ukraine front and center at the G7 Summit in Italy. And before he even arrived, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said he's ready to sign off on new security agreements with the United States and Japan.

In just moments, Donald Trump returns to the nation's capital to meet with GOP lawmakers and his vice-presidential contenders on Capitol Hill. What could happen as he makes his very first visit back to the Capitol as -- excuse me, Capitol Hill, as a convicted felon and making a second bid for the White House.

Plus body armor and a slew of ammunition, a traffic stop in New York City by the NYPD leads to a disturbing discovery. What it means just ahead.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Any moment now, Donald Trump is set to arrive on Capitol Hill to rally support among Republican lawmakers for his campaign. At the very same time, President Biden is getting set to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to show his support on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy.

Biden and Zelenskyy expected to speak to reporters this morning as the world leaders gathered there are getting ready to announce a $50 billion loan for Ukraine that Biden is now hoping sends a message to Russia.

I'm going to show you some live pictures. We've seen live pictures of the Ukrainian President meeting with some of the world leaders gathered there.

And now split screen to Donald Trump. He's sitting down with Republican lawmakers, friend and some reluctant allies behind closed doors.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Italy, Kristen Holmes in Washington. Kristen, I want to start with you. You've been talking to Trump's team and lawmakers. What -- what are you expecting to happen today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate. Well, look, this is the first time the former president has had this kind of meeting with Republican lawmakers since, one, becoming the presumptive nominee and, two, since becoming a convicted felon. And on the Trump side, they're really saying that they want this to be about, quote, unquote, "unity," rallying the troops behind the former president, getting their messaging in sync ahead of what is likely to be a very contentious several months leading up to November.

Now, we are told that he is expected to talk about, one, how he plans to win, how to beat Biden in November. But two, what a 2025 agenda would possibly look like. Talking about his policies, his proposals, immigration, the border economy, all the things that we hear him talk about regularly on the campaign trail. On the lawmaker side, it sounds as though they are in line with what Donald Trump is going to say. They want some kind of conversation around unity, bringing the party together. That's been very fractured in recent months, particularly on the House side over Speaker Johnson. Before that, of course, Speaker McCarthy.

But they're also looking for some kind of insight into what they can be doing to lay the groundwork on the Hill, on the legislative side ahead of November if Donald Trump is going to win to kind of prep for that kind of thing, to pass those laws or at least get the ball rolling on that.

Now, he is meeting with the House Republicans and Senate Republicans separately. We expect a very different vibe, so to speak. House Republicans have described this as likely to be more of a pep rally. People were talking about wearing their Donald Trump clothing.

On the Senate side, he's going to be greeted by some of his biggest skeptics, including Senator Mitch McConnell. The two of them have not spoken since January 6, since the election was certified for Biden. They have had no love lost between them. President Donald Trump is routinely insulting McConnell.

Now, McConnell has endorsed Donald Trump, but again, the two have not spoken. That's going to be balanced out, though, by the fact, as you mentioned, some of those potential VP contenders will be in the room to provide him that kind of pep talk like atmosphere.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Pep talk, rally, all of the above. Let's see what they're saying coming out. That's for sure. Thanks, Kristen.

So, Nic, soon we're also going to see, you know, in Italy, we're going to see President Biden with Ukrainian with the Ukrainian president, as I mentioned. What do these coming announcements of new support for Ukraine, what does it mean for Ukraine?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This means some consistency and certainty going forward. The assurances that we're going to hear the bilateral announcement that will come later today that we're expecting between President Biden and President Zelenskyy will be those security promises that President Zelenskyy was looking for last year from NATO. He, of course, wanted the maximum. He wanted the Article 5 effective

membership of NATO that an attack on one, including Ukraine, would be an attack on all. Everyone would come to his defense. What he's getting is a series, 32, and this is the 15th in this series of bilateral security agreements with different countries. This is the one with President Biden. This doesn't have a fixed financial amount attached to it.

But in essence, it says if Ukraine is attacked by Russia in the future, after in a scenario where this war has ended, is attacked in the future, that within 24 hours, there will be a response. It will be an issue where the United States has Ukraine's back. That's over and above all the military, humanitarian, financial support they're getting at the moment.

[09:05:07]

The multilateral deal that's on the table right now, and we've seen President Zelenskyy sitting there at that beautiful, large olive wood table with the G7 leaders. It's olive wood because that's a staple in this farming community in the southeast of Italy here. Olive trees are absolutely everywhere.

So they're sitting around this large olive wood table, and Zelenskyy hopes to hear how these G7 leaders have agreed the finances for a unique way to loan $50 billion to Ukraine. They're planning to use those $300 billion worth of frozen Russian assets, use the profits off of that to lend the money to Ukraine. The underwriting of it, if you will, will be done, it seems, between the United States and the European Union.

The questions go like this. What happens if Ukraine defaults? Who carries the can and pays the money? And of course, where does the extra money come from if the profits from the $300 billion don't make the $50 billion total? So these are the bits that we understand are being ironed out and should be, broadly speaking, agreed in some terms today.

BOLDUAN: All right, much more to come from Italy today. Nic, thank you so much. Kristen Holmes in Washington on the Donald Trump front for sure.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, Senior Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier, also with us, CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger, who I believe is in Italy for these meetings.

David, let me start with you. There's this security agreement between the United States and Ukraine now, a 10-year security agreement. But to what extent is this a 10-year contract with a huge opt-out clause in January of 2025 if Donald Trump is elected?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, it's got several opt-out clauses, John, and the possibility of President Trump's election is just one of them. So this is basically an executive agreement. It's made between President Zelensky and President Biden, and the U.S. hopes that there will be similar agreements with each of the other G7 members. And right now, President Zelenskyy is sitting with, of course, those leaders, and he's going to be hearing about this.

The problem is this. An executive agreement can be undone by another president, the next president. Think of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which was then undone by President Trump in 2018.

The second problem is that there is no dollar amount attached to this agreement, and there won't be for the rest of the year because Congress has, after a long debate, already given $61 billion. So they'd be up for more money next year. And so what he's getting is basically an agreement in principle with no amount of cash and no particular commitment about what kind of response the U.S. would bring if there was a second large invasion.

BERMAN: You know, Kim, I'm looking at pictures right now of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sitting around that table at the G7, and you go around that table and look who's there. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, good chance he's not prime minister in six weeks or so. Emmanuel Macron from France, there's an election there. He'll still be in power, but his political party could lose everything. Olaf Scholz right there to the left from Germany, he just suffered a huge setback there.

So if you're Zelenskyy looking around that room, you know, how secure do you feel that the promises you're getting and the people you're talking to will have any juice?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Look, if you're Zelenskyy, you're worried. If you're Putin sitting in Moscow, you're sitting there saying, uh-huh, let's see if you all are going to be there next year. All of these deals can be undone by this rise in anti-democratic, authoritarian-leaning, and in some cases, pro-Russia parties that just won in the EU elections.

And I just came back from a couple of reporting trips in the Baltics and the caucuses, and the fears that I hear among the European politicians I spoke to and opposition politicians who are fighting for democracy is that slowly, through threat of force, disinformation, and also the price that Europeans are paying in their economies for higher prices because of sanctions against Russia, that Putin is winning by degrees, whereas the U.S. is still in some ways dragging its feet, not getting enough of the weapons to Ukraine fast enough to make a difference before you've got this resurgent of authoritarian governments across Europe.

[09:10:00]

BERMAN: You know, President Biden, David, sitting at that table, how closely are these other countries and other leaders watching the U.S. election, watching what's happening here? Looking forward to two weeks from now where there's this debate.

DOZIER: Everyone I spoke to is fearful of a Trump second administration. They were quizzing me everywhere I went. How close do you think it is? What do you think it will mean? Will he really be for Russia? People I spoke to in Armenia are worried that in order to do a deal with Putin to get Putin out of Ukraine, that Trump might say, hey, just take Armenia. It's on your border. You've long wanted to reassert power there. So it's a real fear, and it's something that they're spending a lot of sleepless nights planning for.

Meanwhile, they're also refreshing their Trump administration address books, reaching out to the people who potentially might come back into the White House just in case.

BERMAN: David Sanger, I thought I lost you there for a second. How much in terms of foreign policy does the Biden administration think it might be able to get done in the remaining months of this term?

SANGER: Well, I think they think there are a few big things they can do. One of them you're likely to see later on today, which is going to be resolving the issue of what to do with the $300 billion in Russian assets that the Russians somewhat inexplicably, John, left in Western institutions, financial institutions, before they did the invasion. And so the formula that they seem likely to come up with is that the U.S. and some of its allies will issue a $50 billion loan immediately to the Ukrainians. So they'll get the money right away and it would be repaid from the interest on that those frozen assets.

They basically put that into some interest-bearing accounts that would go repay the loan. That would be a difficult thing for President Trump to undo later on.

But the big initiative, I think, that everyone worries about the most, John, is simply this, that when Biden first showed up at a G7 meeting when he was newly elected, it was in Britain, he basically said, we're back and alliances are back.

And today, I think, as everyone sits around that table, they are wondering, will these three or four years of the Biden presidency be the blip in which alliances came back for a little while, or did they come back on a sustained basis? And that's really the major foreign policy division between President Trump and -- former President Trump and President Biden.

BERMAN: David Sanger, great to see you. Kim Dozier, as always, thank you so much.

Sara?

SIDNER: Good conversation, John. All right, coming up, a CNN exclusive with former Georgia special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Ahead, the question, our Kaitlan Collins asked that had him stop the interview for a bit.

Plus, the NYPD may have thwarted a major attack after an officer finds 1,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor, guns, and law enforcement- style uniforms in a car. What we know about the case and the suspect coming up. And a state of emergency. Parts of South Florida swamped, huge

downpours, bringing a month's worth of rain all in just a couple of days. And it's not over yet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:15]

SIDNER: New for you this morning, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is asking a Georgia appeals court to dismiss Donald Trump's motion to disqualify her from prosecuting the 2020 election interference case against him and his allies in the state of Georgia.

Now, this is coming as a former special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, spoke exclusively to CNN for the first time since being forced to resign from the case for a romantic relationship that he had with DA Willis.

Here's what Nathan Wade told CNN's Kaitlan Collins when asked if he regretted his actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATHAN WADE, RESIGNED FROM TRUMP GA CASE OVER RELATIONSHIP WITH FANI WILLIS: Do I believe that my actions caused this delay? No, no, no. I do believe, though, that the timing of a personal relationship that I had was probably bad. It was bad timing. But you don't pick and choose when those things happen. They happen organically and you deal with the situation as it comes.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Do you have regrets about it?

WADE: The only thing I regret is the timing of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining us now from Marietta, Georgia, where DA Fani Willis is expected to speak in just a few short hours, we have our Nick Valencia. The timing is the big issue here, though. It was a big issue in the case because there was a question about whether they started this relationship much earlier than they admitted to in court papers. Tell us what more you heard in that that stood out.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and there's still some question marks as to whether or not they were fully truthful on the stand when they were asked about the timing of the relationship. And adding to the bizarreness of this interview was a media consultant that interrupted a very simple question from our Kaitlan Collins to Nathan Wade. When did your relationship with Fani Willis begin? Just look at what happened when that question was asked.

[09:20:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Just to clarify, when did the real romantic relationship between the two of you start?

WADE: Yeah. So, you know, we get into -- there's been this effort to to -- to -- to say that, OK, these -- these exact dates are are -- are -- are at issue. And these exact dates are -- I'm getting -- I'm getting signaled here.

COLLINS: Everything OK?

WADE: Yeah.

COLLINS: Just to revisit the question, it was to clarify when the romantic relationship started and when it ended.

WADE: Sure. So, you know, I believe that the public has through -- through the testimony and other interviews, the public has a clear snapshot that this is clearly just a distraction. It is not a relevant issue in this case. And I think that we should be focusing on more of the facts and the indictment in the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: It's such a bizarre moment there. The case here, the Trump criminal case is currently at a standstill. Of course, Fani Willis survived, ultimately survived those disqualification hearings because Wade stepped down. That was a decision given by the trial judge, really an ultimatum. But that decision from the trial judge is now being weighed by the Georgia Court of Appeals, and they're not going to decide anytime soon, all but guaranteeing that this will not go to trial before the November election.

Now, we are expecting to hear more from Fani Willis later today. She's speaking at this church behind me to thousands of congregants, faith leaders from across the state. And last time she had a similar speech like this, the speech got politicized, and she was accused by Trump's attorney here in Georgia, Steve Sadow, of prejudicing potential jurors in this trial by what he called bringing up the race card, alleging that she was being attacked for her relationship with Nathan Wade because she was a black woman and he is a black man.

I talked to a source in her inner circle, and they tell me that Fani Willis is not expected to touch really any of these national issues or talk about the case. She's going to instead focus on criminal justice policy. Remember, she's up for a reelection this year for that seat in Fulton County. So that speech is expected to happen here in the coming hours.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Nick Valencia, thank you so much for all your reporting on this.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new reporting on what Donald Trump will tell Republicans on Capitol Hill, his first trip there since the insurrection as he is greeted by a new ad from the Biden campaign. And then a man arrested in New York with a staggering arsenal as there

are new concerns in the United States over a rise in terror.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:16]

BOLDUAN: This morning, Donald Trump will be in the nation's capital, meeting with House and Senate Republicans, including many of his VP contenders and also a few former outspoken opponents. All of whom are expected to be rallying around him today. Clearly a show of force that Donald Trump is no doubt looking for right now.

It is the first time that Trump will be on Capitol Hill since then, since January 6th and the insurrection. The Biden campaign making sure to mark that occasion, releasing a new ad today to remind voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On January 6th, Donald Trump lit a fire in this country, stoking the flames of division and hate. Now he's pouring gasoline.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They were unbelievable patriots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pledging to pardon the extremists who tried to overthrow our government. There is nothing more sacred than our democracy, but Donald Trump's ready to burn it all down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now, former Democratic Congressman Max Rose and former White House spokesman for George W. Bush, Pete Seat.

Let's talk about the meeting first and then about how Biden campaign is marking it. Pete, I want to read for you how the "New York Times" put it about the goal that Trump has kind of going into these closed- door meetings. "The agenda for the meetings is not entirely clear. A campaign official said the meetings with lawmakers would be focused on policy, on issues including the migrant crisis. One lawmaker planning to attend, who was not authorized to discuss the meetings, said no agenda was apparent other than Mr. Trump seeking to generate enthusiasm."

What is this all about?

PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, ostensibly it's about building unity and getting everyone to lock arms in support of a forward-looking agenda, right? That's what the campaign says. I think --

BOLDUAN: Sounds like a talking point you would put out for a candidate that isn't Donald Trump.

SEAT: It sounds very -- maybe I wrote it, I don't know. I wouldn't tell you if I did. But I think the subtext here is Donald Trump, and he may even verbalize this, is shape up or ship out, right?

It is a one-way street when it comes to unity and loyalty in Donald Trump's Republican Party. And all these members are going to have to get on board with his agenda, whatever that is, come 2025 if he's elected. And that message will be delivered in some way, shape or form.

BOLDUAN: It is one way to draw the line, if you will. I mean, Max, it's like show up and then show you're on the team or you are out. It in some way kind of eliminates the lines that we always hear, which is the -- I'm running, I'm focused on my own race and I'm running on local issues or dodging questions and saying I haven't seen that tweet yet. It's one way. It's a tactic.

MAX ROSE, (D) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: So who knew Donald Trump would be acting like an arrogant bully? Look, there's one thing in the background here, which is Trump wants Republican leadership to do everything they can, both now and as long as it takes into the future.