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Saudi Officials Can Search Consulate; Gates Sought to Attack Opponents; Remembering Victims of Limo Crash. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 9, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:33:11] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news.

Turkey now says it will allow Saudi officials to search their consulate as they investigate the disappearance of Saudi journalist and "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi. This comes as we now see, look at this, the last moment that Khashoggi was seen entering the consulate before vanishing.

Our Nic Robertson live in Istanbul with these breaking details.

Nic, what are you learning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, John, that image almost exactly a week ago to the hour, 1:14 p.m. local time. That's when Jamal Khashoggi was seen going into the consulate.

What we've heard from President Erdogan here is that he says it's up to the Saudis now to prove that Khashoggi left the consulate.

But, of course, this latest news that you are reporting, this we're hearing from state media here, the Anadolu (ph) news agency, saying that Saudi officials have now agreed to allow Turkish investigators into the consulate behind me.

But it's a week after Khashoggi's disappearance. It's not clear what they're going to find, what the conditions of access might be.

We've also heard from President Trump on this saying that he is concerned about Khashoggi's disappearance. He says nobody knows anything at the moment. Vice President Mike Pence has weighed in. He's saying that he's deeply troubled, that the world deserves answers. And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also said that the Saudis should support an investigation, which appears, on the surface, at the moment, as if the Saudis are now supporting an investigation. They're allowing the Turkish officials in a week after the disappearance, into the consulate.

But suspicion here in Turkey centers on other video surveillance that covers the arrival in Saudi Arabia -- the state news agency is reporting the arrival, rather, in Turkey of 15 Saudi officials the day Khashoggi disappeared. Where they went, what they did, how they got in and out of their vehicles, all of this at the center now of the Turkish investigation.

[06:35:10] But what is emerging is very clear as tensions between Saudi Arabia and Turkey are ratcheting up. The Saudis saying it is ridiculous to allege that Khashoggi might have been killed or otherwise removed from the consulate. They are knocking that theory down completely.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Nic, we obviously need to get to the bottom of it and those are the key questions you've outlined.

Thank you very much.

All right, I'm supposed to read sports now, but I'm going to gift this one --

BERMAN: Really?

CAMEROTA: To John Berman.

BERMAN: Really?

CAMEROTA: You are going the read this sports report right now.

BERMAN: When I went to bed last night, Alisyn --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: The Red Sox were up 1-0.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: When I woke up, it turned out they won 16-1. The most lopsided road win in postseason history. And the best part of all --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: In was in Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox beat the Yankees 16-1. Something like this has ever happened in history. You're looking at Brock Holt. You know what Brock Holt did?

CAMEROTA: No, what?

BERMAN: He hit for the cycles. Do you know what that means?

CAMEROTA: No.

BERMAN: He got a single, a double, a triple and a home run.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.

BERMAN: That's never happened ever in the postseason.

CAMEROTA: I'm so happy for him.

BERMAN: It's never happened ever.

CAMEROTA: And you.

BERMAN: Yes, it's never happened -- I've never seen it happen in the postseason. No one alive has ever seen that happen in the postseason.

Here's the problem, though.

CAMEROTA: What?

BERMAN: It only counts as one victory. And the Red Sox, they lead the series 2-1. They can clinch tonight.

CAMEROTA: Or they could still lose the whole thing, you're saying?

BERMAN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: Oh, gosh.

BERMAN: So we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, other than to say, any fleeting humiliation of the Yankees is valuable in and of itself.

CAMEROTA: OK, great, now I'm stressed about tonight because I can't imagine how you'll feel. Well, we're just not even going to go there.

But, anyway, you're saying they won last night.

BERMAN: They won. If -- let's make that clear, they won. They won.

CAMEROTA: That's (INAUDIBLE). They won. Fantastic.

All right.

BERMAN: Other news.

CAMEROTA: Moving on.

BERMAN: Growing -- something's growing. Growing questions about the deadly upstate crash in New York, the limousine crash. We have new details emerging that the limousine should never have been on the road. What we're learning, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:08] BERMAN: An intriguing new report that a top Trump campaign official reached out to a foreign firm for proposals to manipulate social media during the 2016 presidential election. The goals were influence and opposition research, but was it all legal?

Mark Mazzetti is a Washington investigative correspondent for "The New York Times." He co-wrote the article. And he's a CNN national security analysis.

We're talking about Rick Gates, who was, at one point, the deputy campaign chair. We know that Rick Gates has pleaded guilty. He worked for the Trump campaign for a long, long time.

What exactly was he discussing and with whom?

MARK MAZZETTI, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So this was in the spring of 2016, just as Donald Trump was emerging out of the primary fight with his Republican opponents, looking toward the general election and, more immediately, looking at the Republican convention when they were worried about this possible defection of delegates away from Trump towards the establishment.

So what Rick Gates heard in this Washington hotel lobby was a proposal to basically manipulate the convention, taking a proposal to use fake avatars, fake online identities and bombard delegates with pro-Trump messages and anti-Ted Cruz messages, who was the person they would fear -- they were fearing would lead the revolt. This was put together by an Israeli firm, staffed by former intelligence operatives.

So Gates requested more information, the proposals, et cetera, and it was really -- and then they got a number of proposals. Not just that, but also an intelligence gathering proposal about Hillary Clinton and a general election proposal. So there were -- there were three in total, at least as far as we know.

BERMAN: Proposals, but, let's clear a few things up, none of them were ever carried out.

MAZZETTI: That's right. So there's no evidence that the Trump campaign paid for -- paid money to the firm or executed the proposals. We report in the story that they've become of interest to Robert Mueller, the special counsel. He has the proposals and he has interviewed several of the firm's employees. The firm is called Psy Group. Investigators have traveled to Israeli and investigated there and interviewed people associated with these proposals.

BERMAN: No Russia connection exactly, but the potential for a foreign influence connection. And also, Mark, it sort of seems to show the willingness, or at least the knowledge, of the Trump campaign of the possibility of manipulating social media, correct?

MAZZETTI: Right. So remember, after the election, we were -- the campaign was talking about how, you know, they didn't know anything about this kind of stuff that the Russians were doing. All of this -- all these avatars, all this manipulation that we now know the Russians were doing in spades.

This story shows that pretty early on, really before the general election even started, top officials at least were aware and expressed some interest in the promise of this technology, how it could be used to influence voter behavior. So I think that's one of the significant things here. But as you say, there's no direct tie in our story to anything that the Russians were doing.

BERMAN: And there was an additional meeting beyond the spring, one that apparently happened in August, that did include Donald Trump Junior? And I can put up on the screen here some attendees at that meeting. They are all interesting folks. Joel Zamel is the Israeli individual I believe you're talking about who runs this Israeli consulting firm. Erik Prince ran Blackwater. George Nader is someone close to the UAE. And then, of course, Donald Trump Jr.

Prince and Nader have also come up repeatedly in the Mueller investigation. The significance of this meeting?

MAZZETTI: Yes, that's -- it's very curious. We reported on that meeting in May in a story where we -- we -- we highlighted that Joel Zamel appeared at Trump Tower and appeared to offer some services to the Trump campaign, but we didn't know much more about that.

We now know that these proposals from his company were pitched to the campaign months earlier. So it adds another piece behind that meeting. And there are still more questions, a lot more questions, about how this fits together, particularly how Erik Prince ended up bringing these people together at Trump Tower in August of 2016 and exactly the role of George Nader. As we've reported pretty extensively, Nader is an adviser to the UAE and he's now a cooperating witness in the Mueller investigation. So, you know, how these different aspects fit together, we're still trying to figure out. But we now know a little bit more about the back story to the August meeting.

[06:45:32] BERMAN: Let me read you a statement from Zamel's lawyer. He says that Mueller has clarified from day one that Joel and his company have never been a target of the investigation and that Joe provided full cooperation to the government to assist in the investigation and we've never heard from them since.

Are there questions about legality here, because one of the more interesting things in your article, and it was all fascinating, was the notion of this Israeli firm actually hired a U.S. law firm to try to figure things out.

MAZZETTI: Yes. So these are -- it's sort of this question of, where is the line in terms of election law of what is allowed and what is not in terms of foreign participation, the participation of foreigners in campaign work. We report in the story that the firm reached out to Covington and Burling, which is a large firm here based in Washington, and they asked for a legal review. We tried the firm and the firm didn't give a comment about the conclusion of the review. So it's unclear exactly whether as proposed it would have been compliant with American law.

We do know that the firm was concerned about this, the Israeli firm, and they were considering hiring some Americans, American citizens, to actually carry out this work as if that might have, you know, brought the firm more in compliant with American law.

BERMAN: Mark Mazzetti, terrific report. Thanks so much for your work.

MAZZETTI: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: And also welcome to the larger CNN family. Glad to have you here as an analyst.

MAZZETTI: Thank you. BERMAN: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, John.

Now to an update on that limo accident. This limo involved in a 20- person deadly crash. It should not have been on the road. And the driver should not have been behind the wheel. There were also apparently signs of trouble before the crash. So we have a live report on all of these updates, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:11] CAMEROTA: There are still so many questions about that deadly limo accident that killed 20 people in upstate New York. Authorities say the vehicle should not have been on the road and the driver was not properly licensed. These developments come as more than 1,000 people gathered to remember the victims at a vigil last night.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is live in Amsterdam, New York, with more.

What have you learned today, Polo?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, that accident happened about 20 miles south of here yesterday. This community coming together to show of their support. Some of their messages of love and remembrance written on the banner you see behind me.

Meanwhile, this -- that investigation continues. Yesterday the NTSB and state police revealing that they've already recovered the air bag control module, call it the black box of this limousine. They hope that that could provide crucial clues as they try to answer the question about how this birthday celebration turned into one of the nation's deadliest transportation accidents in nearly a decade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Well, it was inspected by the New York State Department of Transportation last month and failed inspection and was not supposed to be on the road.

SANDOVAL (voice over): Growing question this morning about Prestige Limousine, the company that operated the modified Ford Excursion that barreled through an intersection in upstate New York hitting a parked car, ultimately killing 20 people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard this loud bang and then I heard screaming.

SANDOVAL: Department of Transportation records show the company's vehicles were inspected five times in the last two years, with four taken out of service. Prestige Limousine releasing a statement that they are cooperating with authorities and, quote, performing a detailed internal investigation to determine the cause of the accident. The credentials of the limousine's driver who was killed in the crash also under scrutiny. MAJOR ROBERT PATNAUDE, TROOP G COMMANDER, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: The

driver of the limo did not have the appropriate license to operate that vehicle.

SANDOVAL: And now CNN learning there were signs of trouble before the tragedy, with family of friends saying at least one of the victims reached out complaining about the vehicle.

VALERIE VERTUCCI ABELING, CRASH VICTIM'S AUNT: I think my niece instinctively had thoughts that, geez, this is, you know, this is not good, you know, what they sent us.

SANDOVAL: Her niece, Erin Vertucci McGowan, died in the crash. Erin's friend, Melissa Healy (ph), telling "The New York Times" she had received a text telling her that a party bus had broken down on the way to pick them up and instead they traveled by a stretch limousine, which was in shoddy condition. The motor is making everyone deaf, she reportedly wrote. When we get to the brewery, we will all be deaf.

The NTSB also investigating whether the limousine's design played a factor in the deadly crash.

ROBERT SUMWALT, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: It was stretched. So we want to make sure that the vehicle, when it was converted, that that was -- the conversion was conducted in accordance with federal regulations.

SANDOVAL: Among the victims, newlyweds Amy Steenberg and her husband, Axel, the group all there to celebrated her birthday. They never made it. And Amanda Halse on board with her boyfriend Patrick Cushing.

KARINA HALSE, CRASH VICTIM'S SISTER: As the days has gone by, I found out more and more thing wrong. And it just really hurts. It makes me feel -- my heart is just sunken so far down. And I've never felt this before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

SANDOVAL: A small town in mourning gathering last night to remember the lives cut so tragically short.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My heart breaks as I think of all of the lives that never will be the same. As we all know, that words will never ever fill the void in the hearts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Adding to the sadness, there's also the sense of anger. People here are quite upset after hearing that new information, that that SUV, that limousine, should have never been on the road in the first place, that that driver did not have the right license.

[06:55:05] Now, the investigation by the NTSB will be focusing on two things here, the mechanical factors and the human factors. Though they did stop short yesterday of saying its speed possibly played a role in the investigation. They will also be looking at the toxicology reports that are released hopefully soon.

Guys, back to you.

BERMAN: Polo Sandoval for us in Amsterdam. It seems like there are factors across the board there.

Polo, thanks so much for that report.

Florida Governor Rick Scott calls Hurricane Michael a monstrous storm. The storm is heading closer and fast to the Florida Gulf Coast. We have the latest forecast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane Michael is forecast to be the most destructive storm to hit the Florida panhandle in decades.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With category three winds, we could see hundreds of thousands lose powers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I normally laugh these things off, but this one I'm taking a little bit more serious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we say evacuate, you need to evacuate.

JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT: My focus now is to be the best justice I can be.

[07:00:03] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A man that was caught up in a hoax that was set up by the Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said that Kavanaugh had been proven innocent. We all know that is simply not true.