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Veteran Who Served With Walz: Accusations Walz "Ran Out On His Battalion" Not "Credible"; Ukraine Launches "Massive" Drone Strike On Russia's Lipetsk Region; Russian Strike On Ukrainian Supermarket Kills At Least 14; "Misinformation Part 2" Airs Sunday At 8PM ET/PT. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired August 09, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: He is a 32-year veteran who served with Governor Walz in the same battalion for about a decade.
Joe, what do you think about the accusations that you see being leveled at Walz?
JOSEPH EUSTIS, RETIRED COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR, MINNESOTA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: Well, the accusation about him, you know, skirting his duty and running out as battalion, I don't find that to be credible in this light.
The timeline for the whole deployment -- to deploy, you need a NAS (ph) and a sourcing order, and those things came after he chose to retire.
I will say everyone will say he should have known or if he knew. All's we knew at the time was there was a rumor we are going to deploy.
And I can tell you that since -- when the Iraq war started, the rumor came up that every unit was going to deploy. And that does become true. But you don't deploy on rumors.
If you need the NAS (ph), which didn't come until July, and you need this sourcing order, that didn't come until August.
And if he knew, I didn't know. I've sat in the same chair as him. When he got ready to deploy in our last deployment, I didn't know any sooner really than the rest of the unit knew.
So, you know, that part of the conversation I think is baseless.
KEILAR: Joe, to be clear, you don't see eye to eye with Walz on politics. Tell me a little bit about that, and why you still thought it was important to come forward and talk about this.
EUSTIS: Well, that's true. I don't see eye to eye on any of his politics. I disagree in -- with many of the things he's enacted as governor and those things.
That I felt -- like I said, on a different show, I'm really not defending Tim Walz. I'm defending what I know about a soldier who I served with.
From what I know about him and the situation, saying that he is a traitor or shirked his duty, in my opinion, is an unfair assessment of what took place.
I think, if you want to attack him on other levels, on his record and that stuff, have at it. But I don't think it's fair to take the 24 years that he served and try to decide that he didn't serve honorably or if he did something he shouldn't have done. That's just not fair.
KEILAR: And I know that you asked him, around that time, why not -- so you we're talking about it. Why not stay in the Guard while running for office or being in office?
What did he say to you?
EUSTIS: As I recall, he knew or figured that if the rumor became true and we were going to deploy, someone who tried to get out serving, as he would have been a congressman, he didn't want that to happen. All right?
So he felt -- and this is what he told me. He felt that cutting ties with the Guard and then running for office was the best route for him to serve in a different manner.
That's really -- his reasonings we're, at least what he told me, was that he was going to choose to serve his country in a different way. And that was going to be in the House of Representatives. If he got elected.
So again, I don't know anything other than those things. If someone's going to speculate that he got out because of the rumor of a deployment, that's just their opinion. We didn't know.
KEILAR: Joe, he's been criticized as well for how he characterized the rank that he retained upon retirement, but also especially for saying -- referring to weapons of war that he carried into war, which obviously, he did not.
What do you think about those criticisms?
EUSTIS: Well, those are all fair criticisms. He stated that he carried weapons in war and talking about doing some common-sense gun control. Well, he didn't carry a weapon in war. That statement is untrue. That's misleading to the American public.
And when he had on his bio that he is a retired command sergeant major, that's untrue also. The rules -- the rules are simple. When he gets selected, he can get promoted by signing up for the academy.
The other requirement is you've got to graduate, walked across the stage. And then, I believe in the guard, I had to give two extra years of service. He didn't do those three things.
[13:35:58] So when you retire, you go to the next -- the previous rank you have. So he was never a retired command sergeant major. Although he does have the right to say he was a sergeant major. He did do that. But he can't, under the rules of the Army, retire as one.
And again, that's misleading. He shouldn't have misled people on those two fronts.
KEILAR: All right, retired command sergeant major, Joseph Eustis, we appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for your service. And also thank you to your family for their service.
You have five sons currently in the Guard. I know you're very proud of them.
EUSTIS: That's true. And I have other children that suffered through deployments and a wife that had to step up and do those things.
So this is for my daughter, Eve. I'd just like to give a shout out to her.
KEILAR: Yes, military service is certainly a family business. I know you're proud of all your kids, sir. Thanks for being with us.
EUSTIS: Well, thank you, ma'am. Appreciate it.
KEILAR: Still ahead, Ukraine goes on the offense, launching back-to- back strikes against Russia. The latest attack targeting an area housing hundreds of bombs. What this new strategy signals, ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:40:44]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Ukraine is on the attack on Russian soil. Ukraine launching a massive drone attack, striking a weapons depot 250 miles across the border. This marks Ukraine's second major incursion into the country.
This is disturbing video from the fighting in Kursk. It shows a convoy of burnt-out Russian military trucks. And you can see the bodies of some troops, some surviving Russian soldiers nearby.
New reports from Russian military bloggers indicate a wide area being targeted by Ukraine.
Let's go now to Jim Sciutto for the latest on Ukraine's deep push into -- into Russia.
And, Jim, they're going after some important Russian targets and they're going over the border
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes.
DEAN: -- which I know has been -- has been a key thing. SCIUTTO: Listen, it's a big incursion inside Russian territory. We
haven't seen this since Russia's full -- full-scale invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago, or even going back 10 years when Russia had its partial invasion of Crimea in Eastern Ukraine.
And it's big. And they've been in for a couple of days now. They've advanced several miles into Russian territory.
And they're using not just Special Operations units or partisans inside Russia to carry out these operations. Because we've seen some of these surprise attacks inside Russia before.
Some of these are regular Ukrainian units, as well as Special Operations units, I'm told, which speaks to a bigger, more ambush -- ambitious push inside Russian territory. And frankly, an embarrassing one for Russian forces.
They stormed across the border, clearly caught Russian forces off guard. And they're doing some damage. And they've -- this has led to some surrenders by Russian forces as well.
So it is a -- it's a piercing of the Russian armor, if you want to call it that.
I'm told that the intention here is, in part, to surprise and demoralize Russian forces. But also to divert forces from the eastern front down below, which has been a bloody and really difficult battle for Ukrainian forces for months now.
DEAN: Yes, and we have Ukrainian President Zelenskyy speaking about these cross-border attacks. We can play that clip and then I want to get your thoughts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through interpretation): The Ukrainians know how to achieve their goals. And we did not choose to achieve the goals in the war. Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: What do you -- what do you think about that?
SCIUTTO: Listen, it's basically his answer to Russians, who are saying, how dare are the Ukrainians cross our border here.
And a bit of a reminder, wait a second, we got invaded and many tens of thousands of people have been killed, cetera. I think he's probably enjoying this moment --
DEAN: Oh, yes.
SCIUTTO: -- to some degree, not acknowledging necessarily what this operation is or what it's intended to do. But he's probably enjoying this. And listen, that's not just a personality clash or an ego move. The eastern front has been largely a stalemate for months now, enormous losses on both sides, frankly.
And Ukrainian forces largely have been on the defensive footing. So here's an opportunity for them to say we can do more, in effect.
DEAN: And how much of this is the aid that's kicking in. The f 16. I know that it takes him to get all of that up and then running.
SCIUTTO: Sure.
DEAN: But how much of that is a factor?
SCIUTTO: It's finally reaching where it needs to go. And I think people need a reminder, it takes some time, right? When Congress finally had that vote a few months ago, the stuff didn't just appear on the Ukrainian front lines.
It takes time to re-prime the pump, in effect, and get those weapons and ammunition to the front line.
Now there is a sensitivity issue here, right? Because the U.S. has long said don't use U.S. weapons to attack Russian soil or Russian targets.
DEAN: Right, right.
SCIUTTO: It's fine to defend yourself.
You know, it's not quite clear if there are U.S. weapons in great number involved. in this particular attack here. But that is definitely a sensitivity from the U.S. side because they've long been worried about escalation.
DEAN: Right. And what that might mean.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DEAN: And Russia really seems to be framing this as a Ukrainian attack on civilians.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DEAN: It moved quickly to hit that supermarket in Ukraine where they killed a lot of people.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DEAN: Is that a fair assessment?
SCIUTTO: Listen, I mean, there's some evidence that civilian structures were hit there. Whether that was intentional, I don't know. The U.S. doesn't know.
But let's be clear, Russia has intentionally targeted civilians for years inside Ukraine going back to the start of this war. That's been part of their war plan is to demoralize and impose costs on the Ukrainian civilian population.
[13:45:09]
I'm not both-sides-ing this. I mean, any deliberate attacks on civilians is wrong. But in terms of the weight of the conflict so far, there's been deliberate targeting of civilians by Ukrainian, by Russian forces in Ukraine.
It's not clear. And Ukraine says there was no deliberate targeting of civilians here.
DEAN: All right, Jim Sciutto, always great to talk with you. Thank you so much.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
DEAN: And still ahead, police have arrested another teen suspected in the Taylor Swift concert plot. What authorities just revealed about him.
Plus, a closer look at the chaos misinformation brings to elections and how alternative media is making it worse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:50:23]
DEAN: Conspiracy theories about the 2020 election led to the storming of the U.S. capitol on January 6th. Now years later, senior correspondent, Donie O'Sullivan, travels the country and finds that alternative media continues to spread those and other dangerous lies.
KEILAR: Yes, Donie shares his journey in this Sunday's "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The election was stolen in six battleground states. Those six states were decided by the votes of illegal aliens who came in through our open border.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These false beliefs about the last election are being used as a pretext to cause chaos and confusion about the next election. And they've spread far beyond this room in Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freedom!
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not a fight between Democrats versus Republicans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on. Come on. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a fight against good and evil.
SULLIVAN (on camera): Do you think it'll be a fair election?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're going to try and cheat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm voting but (INAUDIBLE)
O'SULLIVAN: Are you concerned if Trump loses --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: -- that there'll be another January 6th?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I think it will be a little more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And Donie O'Sullivan is with us now ahead of this.
Donie, these lies have been debunked and yet they still persist.
O'SULLIVAN: Yes. And look, really what you saw there is the result of four years of just this huge relentless campaign pushing election denialism.
You know, I think, for as much as we talk about election lies and conspiracy theories, I think it is hard to really grasp. And we're hoping that, in this episode of "THE WHOLE STORY," folks get a better idea just how much this has really been drummed into people, right?
This idea that the last election was stolen and that the only way that Trump could lose November's election is if the Democrats cheat. Of course, that is false.
But that's what happened last time. And if that's what happened -- happens again -- you know, we saw what happened last time on January 6th. So look, the stakes are obviously very big here. This is very dangerous, these conspiracy theories.
And look, two things that we also just kind of focused on in this documentary is that -- and you heard Trump mentioned it yesterday at his press conference, kind of alluding to this bogus conspiracy theory that undocumented immigrants will vote en mass and steal the election for Harris.
And that is just a widespread common belief that's being pushed. It's being pushed by people like Elon Musk. And of course, and as well just all the conspiracy theories about voting machines and the voting process itself.
And we also speak to some election officials and others, who are working on this and who are really bearing the brunt of all this madness.
DEAN: Yes, they certainly are. You also spent a lot of time with Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy. What
kind of role does he play in this world?
O'SULLIVAN: Yes, the MyPillow guy. Yes, you know, folks may not have seen him as much on their TV screens the past few years. He was kicked out of a lot of the big-box stores as he continued to push election conspiracy theories after January 6th.
But what we found was that Mike is still very much in business. And there's this -- been this universe that has built up after January 6th happened, when Trump and a lot of his supporters got kicked off the big social media platforms, that kind of led to this emergence and surge in popularity of alternative platforms.
One, of course, being Truth Social, Trump's own platform. But this really has allowed for a world of these new MAGA influencers.
And as -- part of my job is to spend too many hours on these forums and watching these videos. But I would see over and over and over again, all of these these MAGA influencers would be trying to sell pillows, pushing pillow promotion codes.
And what's actually happening there is that Mike Lindell seems -- who seems to genuinely believe these conspiracy theories, right, he's pushing them himself obviously.
But also through his pillows, he is enabling other kinds of influencers and semi, quasi video streamers and things like that to also continue pushing this conspiracy theory.
[13:55:00]
KEILAR: Donie, this is must-watch stuff. So thank you so much for talking with us about your program coming up.
Be sure to watch "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper. "MISINFORMATION PART 2: PATRIOTS, PILLOWS AND PAPER BALLOTS" airs this Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only here on CNN.
We do have some breaking news. This is some really alarming video. This is of a small passenger plane. We say "small," but this is a passenger plane. This is not like a small Cessna with just a few people that we're talking about.
It has crashed in a residential area. This is outside of Sao Paulo in Brazil. And social media videos are showing the aftermath. We do know that it crashed into multiple houses.
The airline, Vopass (ph) -- if I'm saying that correctly -- says that a total of 62 people were on this plane, 58 passengers for four crew members onboard at the time.
So stay with us as we follow this breaking news. We' getting new information and new video. And we're going to bring that to you after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
