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House Judiciary GOP Chair Asks DOJ to Criminally Charge Jack Smith; Member of Vance's Security Detail Suspected of Leaking Travel Info; GOP Officials Pan Trump's Claims of New Election Threats. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 23, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee now calling on the Justice Department to consider prosecuting former Special Counsel Jack Smith who once prosecuted President Trump. What the DOJ and Smith's attorneys are saying about all this, this morning.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: An agent on the vice president's Secret Service detail is now on leave and under investigation after a news story detailing how agents were fed up with Vance's personal travel, including helicopter trips with his son to golf lessons.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, a truck, a forklift, and a power line all meet, and it doesn't go well. The mayhem that ensued.

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

SIDNER: Breaking this morning, former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith is now facing a formal push from Republicans for criminal charges against him. The GOP House Judiciary chair has referred Smith to the Justice Department, accusing him of misleading the committee during closed- door testimony last year. The DOJ says it has received the referral and will, quote, investigate all evidence of criminal conduct.

Now, this all has to do with testimony Smith gave about phone records he collected from members of Congress surrounding efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Smith insisted those records did not include the content of the messages, but Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan now claims new evidence shows that wasn't true.

Smith's attorneys are slamming the referral, saying it, quote, reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is CNN Senior Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Elie Honig to talk more about this.

So, Elie, you have been critical of some of Jack Smith's tactics over the years. We've talked about this many times. But what do you think of what's going on here now? I mean, do you -- a potential -- what do -- do you see a potential crime?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Kate, I do not think there is a valid, provable federal crime here against Jack Smith, and here's why. The core of the allegation that Jim Jordan is making is that Jack Smith testified back in December that he had not seen the substance of text messages involving members of Congress, but it later turned out he had seen text messages.

Now, on its face, that sounds fairly compelling. However, the problem is there are two different sets of documents that Jack Smith testified about. The first one that he's being questioned about, there are documents that Jack Smith obtained phone records of certain members of Congress.

And as Jack Smith testified here, you can see, all that he saw is the record of what phone number called what phone number on what date and for how long. And when he was asked here by Senator Grassley, did you see the substance of text messages in those phone records? He said, No, because the substance of text messages was not in that set of records.

Now, there's a separate set of records, which he's not being asked about here, where he did get the substance of text messages. Those came from the National Archives. So, maybe he could have said in that first answer, while I didn't see the text messages in that first set of documents, I did, however, see them elsewhere. But if you look at what he's specifically being asked, it's only about that first set of records, and it's not false for him to say there that he had not seen the substance of the text messages.

BOLDUAN: And add to all of this really quickly, the president just weighed in on social media about this development, this letter from Jim Jordan. And in it, and with it, as he sent it out, wrote, justice at last, with some with some question marks, as you see right here. How could this play into any case now if this moved forward?

HONIG: Well, if there comes a day where Jack Smith does get indicted, he surely will make a motion to dismiss based on vindictive prosecution. He will argue, this prosecution is the result of a longstanding anger or beef that the president has with me. I was therefore singled out for prosecution because of political reasons, because there's a vendetta going on here.

And if he makes that argument, which he surely will, if he gets prosecuted, this will be an exhibit to make that argument.

[07:05:01]

He'll say, look, the president is openly pushing for this. There's a longstanding history between us. And that will bolster a vindictive prosecution defense should Jack Smith ever get charged.

BOLDUAN: Right, should. Jim Jordan's letter accuses Smith of telling half-truths. Can you bring a perjury case on half-truths? HONIG: See, that's exactly the point. You cannot make a perjury case based on half-truths. In order to make a perjury case, you have to show a specific clear question and a specific clear intentional false answer. Somebody could look at Jack Smith's testimony and say, okay, he wasn't being forthcoming. When Grassley asked him, had you seen the text messages in this one batch of records? The really fully honest answer from Jack Smith would've been, no, I didn't see text messages in that one batch, but I did see them elsewhere. But that's not required. You don't have to give information beyond what you're asked.

So, if there was a critique of Jack Smith that he wasn't fully forthcoming, that's valid, but that's different from saying he committed a criminal act of felony perjury.

BOLDUAN: Elie Honig, thank goodness for you. I appreciate it, Elie. John?

BERMAN: Great explanation there. New this morning, a Secret Service agent on Vice President J.D. Vance's security detail has been placed on administrative leave over suspicions that information was disclosed to a news outlet that included details about the vice president's travel plans. Now, there was a report that agents were frustrated by some of the vice president's personal travel, including a reported Marine helicopter trip to a golf lesson with his son.

Let's get right to CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein for the very latest on what you're hearing on this. Good morning, Betsy.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Good morning, John. Well, last week there were some really fascinating reporting from our colleagues at MS NOW about tensions amongst Vice President J.D. Vance's U.S. Secret Service detail, and that included frustrations from these agents assigned to the vice president about this burden of demands for personal travel for both the vice president and members of his family.

Notably, that included a planned trip aboard Marine 2 to Joint Base Andrews for the vice president's young son. And this report raised alarms among the FBI, the White House, and Secret Service officials for that level of operational detail that was being described in the press.

Now, we are learning, according to CNN reporting, that a U.S. Secret Service agent on Vance's detail has been placed on administrative leave after being suspected of disclosing information for that story. The U.S. Secret Service internally is conducting that review.

It's not clear at this time if there could be administrative punishment or potentially criminal charges here. But this story was remarkable because one of the hallmarks of the Secret Service is their discretion. It is extremely rare and unusual for Secret Service officials to speak even on background, not on the record, with these kinds of specific details about a protectee.

And it also speaks to something that I have been reporting on for years, which is this morale crisis within this agency. This is a high- stress, high-intensity workplace with management and logistical issues, all exacerbated by an unprecedented threat environment, and really a lot of stress and strain on agents, and burnout.

But this just marks the latest development in a much broader crackdown by the Trump administration on what it views as unauthorized leaks to the press. Just weeks ago, four New York Times reporters were served subpoenas to testify before a federal grand jury after their reporting on security concerns around the president's new Qatari-gifted Air Force One, John. So, we'll be watching all of this quite closely.

BERMAN: Betsy, great reporting. And you're right to point out there can be a lot of things going on at once here, including, you know, if in fact this information was disclosed, how notable that is, but also how notable it is that perhaps they felt like they had to given the environment that they're working in. So, a lot of things happening here.

Betsy Klein, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

Ahead, quote, you got to be kidding me, Republican election officials responding to President Trump's accusations about election security. We have new CNN reporting this morning.

Also, that unprecedented A.I. breach, why experts are seriously concerned after that A.I. test model hacked into another company on its own.

And it's almost our favorite time of the year again, Shark Week. Actor and Comedian Ken Jeong and KPop demon hunter singer Rei Ami joins us now to talk about their new show, K-Pop Shark Heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN JEONG, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: I don't make eye contact with them. But they were these amazing scientists and scuba diving experts. Look, I'm talent, I'm famous. Do I really have to talk to these scientists? But --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BOLDUAN: So, there's new CNN reporting today. Election officials across the country are speaking out over President Trump's claims that he uncovered, his wording was, shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure, this coming in his prime time address. So, those speaking out even include Republican election officials, one telling CNN their reaction to Trump's claims was, quote, you got to be kidding me.

CNN's Marshall Cohen has this reporting. He's joining us now. Marshall, tell us more about what you learned. [07:15:00]

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Good morning, Kate. You know, for the people that know this stuff best, that know our elections and run our elections, the president's big prime time address really landed with a thud. So, that was Thursday night, and he said that he had uncovered shocking new vulnerabilities in our elections. That was Thursday.

And then just a few days later, there actually was a conference in Boston where dozens of election officials gathered, and the speech was kind of just shrugged off. It wasn't seen as a very serious game changer where much new information was surfaced.

We spoke to more than a dozen officials, Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats obviously strongly condemned the president, and the Republicans, even in private, acknowledged that they had some real concerns with what the president was doing.

Let me just tick through a few of these quotes here, because some of them really are startling. Remember those documents the president said showed tons of dangers from China and Venezuela trying to mess with our election? One Republican election official from a state that Trump won three times said, quote, it was old. I've already seen this stuff. It wasn't new to me.

Then on the topic of non-citizens on the voter rolls, the administration said that they were handing over data to states showing that hundreds of thousands of non-citizens were on the rolls and demanding immediate action from the states. Well, the top election official in North Carolina, a Republican, told us, quote, there's nothing we accept at face value and just start removing folks. We've got to make our own independent assessment. And he was pretty clear that it would be an uphill climb to get that done before November, which is a huge priority for the White House.

And then finally, after the president's speech, the Homeland Security secretary went even further and threatened to put in jail any election officials who don't get on board with their agenda to overhaul elections. That threat was noted by many of the election officials at this conference. The Democrats said that, you know, it was a terrible thing to threaten hardworking public servants. And even in private, folks from red states said that they don't want to be making -- they don't want to be made an example of either.

Here's a quote. A Republican told us this. Quote, we know elections aren't rigged, but we have to keep our heads down and do our jobs. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. Great reporting, Marshall, thank you so much. It's good to see you. John?

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, protests in Wisconsin after a man was shot and killed by police.

And an officer rushes toward a burning home to save a teenage girl trapped inside.

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[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Protests erupt and serious questions emerge this morning after a man was shot and killed by police in the streets of Wisconsin. The disturbing bystander video shows the scene and when an officer fires multiple shots into the man.

Now, we've paused the video at the moment those shots were fired. Here's where it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (BLEEP).

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SIDNER: CNN's Whitney Wild is joining me now. Whitney, I think police are saying that the man had a knife, injured an officer. Is there body camera video of this incident?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: There's not body camera video. The police chief there says that there's no broad deployment policy for the city of Madison, Wisconsin. It is one of the few larger police departments in the state that does not have a body- worn camera policy broadly for its force.

Sara, this all started when police say that they were responding to a report of a man checking cars. Law enforcement tried to contact this man. He took off on his bicycle through backyards. Police caught up with him later and a struggle ensued, and that's when police say he pulled out a large fixed blade knife.

And you see in the video here this struggle happen. There's an officer who see -- appears to yell, taser, taser, taser. It appears she deploys her taser. You know, a half a beat later, maybe a second later, you hear the gunfire.

Law enforcement says that one of those officers was injured by that knife. It is the same officer who opened fire. Here's what a bystander said. Meanwhile, police are urging patience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the officers then draws a taser. He yells, taser, taser, taser, tasers him. He falls to the ground, and the three continue to struggle for a second or two, and then one of the officers stands and just a couple feet above his head shoots him three times in the head.

CHIEF JOHN PATTERSON, MADISON POLICE DEPARTMENT: I will say that I'm aware of cell phone video that has been shared and circulated online depicting this incident. I ask the community recognize that there is other video that they have not seen, that's not circulating online, that will be reviewed as a part of this investigation. So, to the extent that they can as we all navigate this trauma together, that we try to remain calm and remember that not all perspectives are online right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Police say that a second officer was injured in this incident but they're not saying how. It's not exactly clear how that second officer was injured. Meanwhile, Sara, this case is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Whitney Wild, thank you so much. I know you'll be watching this and looking for answers this morning as well.

[07:25:00]

Thank you. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Bertha's biggest threat actually might be hitting nearly 1,000 miles away from the eye of the storm, and the new and significant flood risk running up along the East Coast.

And there is some wild video of a leopard actually barging into a store and attacking a worker. What happened and how they got it away, that's coming up. That is terrifying.

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[07:30:00]

SIDNER: All right. New CNN reporting this morning on the Senate race in Michigan. CNN has learned Republican candidate Mike Rogers believes he has a good chance if the Democrat.