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First Joint Appearance By Harris, Biden Since President Exited Race; 5 Charged In Investigation Into Matthew Perry's Ketamine Death; Russia: Border Areas To Form Council To Coordinate Security; Project 2025 Co-Author Says He's Readying Plans For Trump. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired August 15, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: And Aaron, all of this happening is Republicans in the Trump campaign want absolutely to tie the vice president to Biden's policies and the ones that have been unpopular. The fact that the majority of Americans see former President Trump as better equipped to handle the economy than they did President Biden. That they don't think the economy is working for them.
And so they're obviously trying to keep that narrative in play and bolster it while they're trying, as we've noted, she's trying to separate where she can, but we're going to keep seeing them together like this.
ERIN PERRINE, FORMER PRESS COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Yes, it's Joe Biden kind of begins this legacy tour towards the end of this presidency. I'm curious how often they're going to put them on stage because the visual of the two of them together is going to be good for Republicans who are trying to say, you remember that time that groceries went up and that everything became more expensive and life was a little bit harder because these two were at the helm?
They're still standing together hand in hand. Give them that visual of the two of them together and Republicans can run with that. Donald Trump has an opportunity to talk about the economy here. Because the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is set to expire, some of it to expire and sunset in 2025. There was going to be tax policy coming up in this -- after this election cycle, no matter what.
DEAN: No matter who and somebody is going to have to --
PERRINE: Nobody is going to have to face the burden of redoing the tax code in the United States. I was on the Hill in 2017 and worked through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I tell you, that is a hard process to do tax policy.
And so for them, he can stand there now and be like, you remember when we doubled the child tax credit? You remember when the government said you keep more of your own paycheck? Do you remember when we lowered taxes for the American people so that you could afford more groceries and chips didn't feel like the luxury item that you feel like now?
He can talk about that and he can say, I did it before and in 2025 we can do it again and we can add to it by putting on no tip on tax or no tax on tips and no tax on Social Security benefits, right? He has that message right there and it's tangible. Hit them with it and use the visual of the two of them together. Tie this all economically together.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: It'll be interesting to see how they might approach that moving forward.
Erin, Jasmine, Kate, David, appreciate the conversation. Thanks for being with us.
Still to come on CNN News Central, authorities have charged several people in connection to "Friends" star Matthew Perry's death. We have details we're learning straight ahead.
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[14:36:22]
DEAN: New today, five people, including two doctors and someone authorities call the ketamine queen, have all been charged in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry.
SANCHEZ: Justice Department officials announced the charges just last hour in Los Angeles, including some really eye opening detail. Let's listen.
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MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr. Perry but they did it anyways. In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his wellbeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us now live. Stephanie, what more did you hear at that press briefing?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We really did learn more, Boris, about this what they called a broad underground criminal network that was selling ketamine and that ultimately led to the death of Matthew Perry. We also learned that Matthew Perry as we have all heard about, he struggled with drug addiction, but he relapsed in September of 2023, the U.S. Attorney said.
And at that point was actually getting treated for depression, that led to him relapsing. And then when the doctors wouldn't get it more, he went to the street. And that is what led to these five people being charged. And just to give you an idea of how close these people were to Matthew Perry. One of them was his live in assistant.
I just want you to listen to the names of the people here. We're talking about Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who at one point, according to the U.S. attorney, actually shared a text message with another doctor saying, quote, "I wonder how much this moron will pay" and went on to charge him at one point $55,000 in cash for 20 vials of ketamine.
Also the other lead defendant here, Jasveen Sangha, who is the ketamine queen that you were talking about, she's also charged for running paraphernalia, selling other drugs out of her location in the valley as well. And also Dr. Mark Chavez, who used to actually own an ketamine clinic. He is also part of this, as well as Eric Fleming, who is a street broker, and then that live in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa. All of them were playing a part.
In fact, Iwamasa, they say, actually injected ketamine into Matthew Perry the day that he died. Just really looking at some details here of the people who were involved, how close they were, and they're saying they took a long time to take down this whole cycle of people who were involved here because this, if you remember, Matthew Perry died in October of last year.
We do know that three of these people have plea agreements and two of them were arrested this morning and are -- will be arraigned later on today. But just to get an idea of what they're saying, they were looking at why this was so important and why they're going after these people. Take a listen to U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESTRADA: If you are in the drug selling business and you're selling dangerous drugs, you are playing roulette with other people's lives, just like the five defendants here did to Mr. Perry. Despite these risks, you continue in the drug business. You are pushed by greed to gamble with other people's lives. Be advised, we will hold you accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: And they were also accused here of falsifying documents and trying to delete text messages. But all of this leading to authorities saying, the death of Matthew Perry last year. Boris and Jess?
DEAN: Stephanie Elam with the latest there in Los Angeles. Thank you very much.
And still to come, Ukraine says it's set up a military office inside Russia as its soldiers claim more territory. But President Zelenskyy warns more weapons are needed.
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[14:44:32]
SANCHEZ: This just in to CNN, the Kremlin is forming a council to take on security issues and protection in its border regions. Several of those regions are at the center of Ukraine's cross border incursion. A Ukrainian military chief says in the weeks since the surprise incursion began, Ukraine has advanced more than 20 miles through Russia's defenses. Let's get some perspective from CNN Military Analyst and Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, great to see you as always. I think one of the questions that stands out to me about this incursion is, how is Russia letting this happen?
[14:45:04]
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, that is a great question, Boris. One of the things that is really key to this is the fact that Russia did not really have adequate defenses in this area. You know, we talk about, in our country, we talk about build the wall and, you know, that kind of stuff in our political discourse. Well, they definitely didn't have a wall or anything like that in this part of the border.
So when you look at this very long border between Ukraine and Russia, there's a lot of stuff that could have happened, a lot of incursions that could have occurred right here. But the key thing to remember is this. They have their forces concentrated right in this area, in the eastern part, and also in this part right here, in the northeastern part of the Ukrainian border area.
But they haven't moved their forces here, and they're certainly relying on a country like Belarus, Russia's ally, to also protect this area, and of course the Belarusian forces are nowhere near the standard of the Russian forces.
SANCHEZ: Sure. So when we zoom into that blue area where the Ukrainians -- the Ukrainians are in control right now, what strategic value does that have for Ukraine?
LEIGHTON: So this is one of the key things right here. There are several aspects to this. One of them is there's a pipeline, a gas pipeline that runs through this way. And then there is also a bunch of railroads that run along approximately like this. And there's several others right here.
But if the Ukrainians cut off the railroads, that will prevent a lot of logistical support for the Russian forces in all of these areas right here. If they cut the gas pipeline, that also prevents about 50 percent of Russia's gas exports from reaching customers in Europe. So there are economic reasons as well as military reasons to go into this area and to actually make something out of it.
Because if they do that, then it gives the Ukrainians more leverage. The more territory they get, the more leverage they have for any potential peace negotiations or some kind of armistice of that type.
SANCHEZ: President Zelenskyy in the last few hours talked about setting up an operations base in this territory to offer essentially services to the people in the region. How does Ukraine establish that? How do they hold on to that, too?
LEIGHTON: Well, that's a great question because what's interesting about the Ukrainian effort is that they are actually setting up what amounts to a military government in Suja. SANCHEZ: Yes.
LEIGHTON: And Zelenskyy announced just a few hours ago that the Ukrainians have actually captured this town and now it's a regional area basically like a county seat. And now if they do anything here, what they can do is they can control the air and if they provide humanitarian services to the people, what that means is they can potentially turn the tide in terms of propaganda when it comes to who's supporting whom in this war effort.
So this is critical, very smart move and very much like what the U.S. did in the post-World War II era with Western Europe. So if the Ukrainians can pull this off, that will really undermine Putin's rule in this part of Russia.
SANCHEZ: Yes, certainly a psychological impact for the Russian people.
Colonel Cedric Leighton, we got to leave it there. Appreciate your perspective. Thanks very much.
LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
Coming up, a former member of the Trump administration and a Project 2025 co-author says he is secretly drafting hundreds of executive orders, regulations, and memos ready to go for a second Trump term. What else he says in a hidden camera video when we come back.
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[14:52:38]
DEAN: ?New today, an explosive undercover video showing a former Trump cabinet member laying out plans for a potential second administration plans that could impact all Americans. He was secretly videotaped by a non-profit journalism group and Senior Investigative Correspondent Kyung Lah has seen it all. Kyung, what does this video show?
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jess, by now, many of us have heard of Project 2025, and especially how Trump says he knows nothing about it at all. But here's something you may not know. One of the co-authors of Project 2025 is a man named Russell Vought. He was not only on Trump's cabinet, but was also in charge of the GOP policy platform released at last month's Republican National Convention.
Now, I want you to take a look at this video. Vought thought he was talking to the relatives of a wealthy investor, but it turns out the meeting was set up and recorded by an undercover journalist and an actor for the Center for Climate Reporting, a British organization.
Now, he says Trump's rejection of Project 2025, it's just politics and Vought explained he's creating a so-called shadow agency, multiple shadow agencies, getting regulations, memos and executive orders ready for action on the first day of a Trump presidency. He also believes in expanding presidential powers and that the president has the authority to use the military to maintain law and order.
Take a listen to how he talks about why Trump is publicly trying to separate himself from Project 2025.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL VOUGHT, CO-AUTHOR OF PROJECT 2025: So, you know, we've got about 350 different documents that are regulations and things of that nature that are -- we're planning for the next year -- next administration. And then you may say, OK, all right, DHS, we want to have a largest deportation. What are your actual memos that a secretary sends out to do it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
VOUGHT: Like, there's an executive order, regulations, secretarial memos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
VOUGHT: Those are the types of things that need to be thought through, so you're not not having to scramble to do that later on. We were always going off of, if Donald Trump was head of this agency, what would he do with it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
VOUGHT: What has he said?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
VOUGHT: And then, what do we know from the first term? And that's how we've been approaching this. He's very supportive of what we do. And know that we have an all manner of things that we do, that, you know, even unrelated to Project 2025.
[14:55:08]
So I see what he's doing is, just very, very conscious distancing himself from my brand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you're not going to publish those?
VOUGHT: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go straight to --
VOUGHT: Yes, they're very, very close hold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Vought also talked about wanting to make sure America is a Christian nation and mass deportation is needed in order to save America. A spokesperson for Votes Group downplayed this video and told CNN, quote, "It would have been easier to just do a Google search to uncover what is already on our website and said in countless national media interviews. But thank you for airing our perfect conversation, emphasizing our policy work is totally separate from the Trump campaign, as we have been saying."
Jessica?
DEAN: And Kyung, Trump has said he doesn't know about Project 25. He's really sought to distance himself from it. But Vought says Trump supports him. Walk us through that.
LAH: Well, the Trump campaign did respond to CNN and released a statement saying, quote, "Only President Trump and the campaign and not any other organization or former staff represent policies for the second term." But here's what we also know, that Trump and Vought have spoken at various times, and the former president has adopted some of those policy ideas, two sources familiar with their relationship tell us.
Vought also - one other thing, Vought also says that everything he's working on just comes from Trump's speeches and the promises for a second term. Jess?
DEAN: Excellent reporting, Kyung, as always. Thank you so much for that.
LAH: You bet.
DEAN: The Biden-Harris duo returned to the stage once again months after the President dropped out -- a few weeks after the President dropped out of the 2024 race.
Another hour of CNN News Central begins after this short break.
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