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Students Facing Suspension, Expulsion, Arrest Over Campus Protests; King Charles Resumes Royal Duties After Cancer Diagnosis; 4 Officers Killed While Serving Warrant At A North Carolina Home. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 30, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:09]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: You are looking at pictures that happened just moments ago from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where police are moving in, trying to get students who have been -- pro-Palestinian students protesting for a ceasefire and for divestment from the university to any type of ties with Israel. You are seeing those images right now as police are trying to remove some of those protesters there.

This is happening on campuses across the United States. I am live here with breaking news at Columbia University -- really, the epicenter of where these student protests all really began. And now we're coming into the end of the second week, on Wednesday, and what we have seen -- things have ratcheted up here quite a bit.

We have seen overnight protesters moving from one place, which was the area where they were all gathered with their tents, and they have now breached this building here -- this academic building here -- Hamilton Hall. There are dozens of students.

Now, inside Hamilton Hall making the same demands using everything they can to block the door so as to not let any officials, police, or anyone else inside. And they have put some of their banners outside so that the public can see that they're in there. This one reads "Free Palestine" in both English and in Arabic. And so, that is what we're seeing on the campus right now.

The university will on -- was supposed to -- at 2:00, they were supposed to be moving from the university, telling students they have until 2:00 on Monday to leave campus of face repercussions. That 2:00 came and went. The students decided to stay put. And now you are seeing them occupying a building here in -- on the Columbia campus.

Now, I want to go straight out our Julia Vargas Jones. She is on campus. She is a student at Columbia University and a colleague and reporter. Julia, I -- I'm sorry, what are you saying? OK.

Julia, I wanted to get some sense of what the scene -- what the scene looks like right now as you are inside campus. You have been there since early this morning. You were one of the last students to be let in. And now the university is saying no more students coming onto campus unless you live there. All of the classes are online at this hour.

What are you seeing where you are?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, Sara, all classes have moved to online. Only essential staff is allowed on campus and students who live here.

I want to give you a little bit of a look of what the vibe is here. It's very calm. Obviously, everything that happened overnight -- you saw those videos -- all the craziness -- this was right here. Let me show how the doors are still barricaded. They're barricading about a few dozen students is my understanding. That's what people here said.

Zip ties, rope, all of these picnic tables from other parts of campus. This was all pushed here. A little bit of damage to the property as well. They broke in this door. Unclear if this is how they -- how they got into the -- into this building. But it's pretty calm right now, Sara.

The great question on everyone's mind here is will the university kick these students out and call on the New York Police Department again to help them evict them out of Hamilton Hall -- Sara.

SIDNER: We are seeing a police presence, of course, outside of the university on all sides near the gates. There is NYPD presence. But as you said, there is a question. The university initially saying they were not going to call the police, but now you have a very different scene with students inside of Hamilton Hall.

Can you give us some sense of the numbers, if you can tell, of the students? Yesterday, there was that deadline of 2:00 p.m. The students decided to stay. Do you know how many people are still in the encampment and who are already in the building?

[07:35:08]

I think we have perhaps lost Julia. I can tell you there are dozens inside of the building but not sure at this hour how many students remain in that encampment. So we've lost Julia Jones.

We are going to go now to the chancellor of Vanderbilt University, Daniel Diermeier. Thank you so much, sir, for joining us.

Can you tell us what is happening on your campus? Here, at Columbia, we've had a breach of an academic building. Give us some sense of what's going on on your campus.

DANIEL DIERMEIER, CHANCELLOR, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well, thank you for having me.

Things have been very quiet over the last few weeks. About a month ago, we had about 30 students or a little bit less than that rush into one of our buildings -- an administrative building that was closed for construction. They injured a security guard. They stayed there for about 20 hours.

We then arrested the students that had injured and pushed our staff, and the other students left. Every student has been subject to student discipline, subsequently, and we had a few students expelled, some suspended, and some on probation.

SIDNER: OK. Can you give me a sense of the numbers of students that are -- that are taking part in this? And respond to the criticism from some of your faculty members who have come out in an open letter and said that they believe these protests should be -- people should be able to -- be able to protest on campus -- obviously, not with violence -- but criticizing the university at all.

DIERMEIER: Yes, sure. So we have had a firm commitment to free speech and free expression. We also have a commitment to institutional neutrality, which means that the university won't take positions on political issues. And we also have a commitment to civil discourse. So when the students join on campus, they actually sign a community creed to treat each other with respect, listen to each other, and then use arguments that are based on facts.

Our students have participated in discussions, in vigils, in protests just a week before they rushed into the building. And we had one group pro-Palestine, the other one pro-Israel on the lawn with this place. There have been no issues at all with respect to students being able to express themselves freely.

But rushing into a closed building and injuring a security guard is not an expression of free speech. It is just like a disruptive conduct. And when students violate rules there have to be consequences for that.

SIDNER: Can you give me a sense of how some of the Jewish students on campus are feeling and if you've had, in the past, some antisemitic remarks that have been made or during any of these protests? What are you hearing and doing for the protection of those students?

DIERMEIER: Yes. So, Jewish life is alive and well on campus. Just last week, we had a Passover seder celebrated by 400 students and members of the community on our main lawn -- Alumni Hall -- in a big tent. We have a vibrant Hillel and Chabad on campus. It's a difficult time for the members of the Jewish community but they are doing fine.

We have -- we have no tolerance for antisemitism and if there are any concerns they are being reported, and then they're being -- there are responses to the appropriate processes on campus so that we don't have any incidents on antisemitism.

SIDNER: Chancellor, what is the university going forward, going to do in light of these protests? I am assuming the protests are still going on there.

DIERMEIER: Yeah, we still have -- we still have protests. We still have discussions on campus. Things have been -- have been quiet over the last few weeks. But, of course, we're seeing a variety on campuses across the country that everybody will be tested on that. The most important thing for us is to be very clear about our principles, to communicate them clearly, and then act accordingly.

(Audio difficulty)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I'm going to take it. Thank you so much. I think Sara has lost her communication. Real quick, we're going to get back to Sara Sidner. Obviously, she's covering all of this for us.

We're also watching other news we want to bring for you.

King Charles is back in the spotlight today. He is officially returning to his public duties for the first time since revealing he is battling cancer. The news of his diagnosis was revealed back in February, you'll probably remember, and he's been undergoing treatment privately ever since.

And CNN's Max Foster has more on this from London for us and he's joining us now. Max, how -- we have the images up here -- the video of the king and the queen at this event. He looks well. What do we -- what do we -- what do we know about it?

[07:40:05]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, he actually seemed like he was buzzing. He looked in remarkably good form. I'm told he's been incredibly frustrated about not being allowed to do these public engagements. This is the first one since his diagnosis in February, apart from a brief appearance over Easter.

And it's significant because he's well enough to do it. The doctors have allowed him to go in there. He's not being seen as vulnerable. So this is the beginning of his coming out into public service again.

And you could see it written across his face. Also, a really strong reaction to patients there at that cancer unit because this is not just the king, it's someone who is also suffering cancer. So he really had a great connection with all of the people there and it was a very powerful appearance I'm told.

He also took up the position today as head of the biggest charity -- cancer charity here in the U.K. -- Cancer Research U.K. So this is a choice to go to a cancer unit to show that he's trying to create a positive out of his diagnosis. And what's he really keen to do and he talked about it today with some patients -- he wants to emphasize the importance of early diagnosis.

So getting the cameras in and showing him at this cancer unit and showing him being out and about is actually designed to encourage people to get out there and diagnose and to be more aware of many of the issues around cancer.

But he's, clearly -- as you can see, Kate -- pretty happy to be out and about. And again, I think we'll be seeing more of him as well.

No news on what cancer he's got. We're not being told. We're not -- we're being told that we're not going to find out. We're also not being told at what point in his treatment he is.

BOLDUAN: Regardless, it is a very good use of the bright spotlight that he and the queen carry with them to shine it on the great work and the need for everyone to look for early detection when it comes to these diagnoses. It's great to see him out and about.

And it's great to see you, Max, as always. Thank you so much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, one 11-year-old has a big goal before he graduates the fifth grade -- pay off all his classmates' school lunch debt. Daken Kramer's Missouri school district gives out free breakfast to students who qualify, but it says that has led to lunch debt piling up, especially at the end of the school year. At Dacon's school alone, that debt is more than $3,000. So he decided to pitch in and help before he heads to middle school.

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DAKEN KRAMER, 5TH GRADER, THOMAS ULTICAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: I just wanted to help my school out. It's important for kids to eat. Like, I don't think they can make it through the day without eating school lunch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: OK, that's a nice kid. Daken hopes he can raise at least $1,000 by the end of the school year, which for him is in two weeks.

All right, the case of the missing emergency slide solved. Where the piece that fell off a Delta flight, forcing an emergency landing, was finally found.

And bird flu cases are popping up across the country. How the government is now testing for the virus.

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[07:46:00]

BERMAN: This morning we are getting new information about four law enforcement officers killed in a shootout in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sam Poloche, Aiden Elliott from the Department of Correction, and Joshua Eyer, a six-year veteran of the Charlotte Police Department, were killing along with a fourth law enforcement officer.

They were met with immediate gunfire while trying to serve a warrant for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. They returned fire and they killed the suspect. Four others were injured in the shooting.

With me now is Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. Chief, we appreciate you being with us. We are sorry for the loss inside your department and your community.

What new information do you have about the injured officers this morning? JOHNNY JENNINGS, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT (via Skype): Well, at this point, we have a couple of officers that are still in the hospital. We did have some good news of at least one officer has been released from the hospital that was involved in the shooting. We originally thought that injury was going to be worse than it was.

But a very sad day for Charlotte and a very sad day for the profession of law enforcement.

BERMAN: It is a sad day, though we are grateful for that one bit of good news this morning, Chief.

What can you tell us about the investigation that led up to this incident and what you are learning about what happened?

JENNINGS: Well, we just -- we're just talking about that. It was -- it was a simple -- something that every -- this fugitive task force does every single day. The U.S. Marshals has a fugitive task force that we are a part of that, and they went to go and serve this warrant as any other day that they would -- they would do. And unfortunately, this individual decided to greet them with gunfire, and it just turned into a tragic event for the officers that were originally out on the scene and then the officers that responded to try and assist.

BERMAN: What information do you have about the weapon used in this shooting at this point?

JENNINGS: Yeah. At this time, we know it was an automatic high- powered rifle that was being used. Several rounds were fired from both the individual that was shooting at the officers, as well as the officers returning fire, and that went on for several minutes. And it was just a very tense situation knowing that these officers that were responding knowing that they had people -- officers that they had to get to, to try and get out and rescue. It's just the pressure that they were under to try and save lives and they acted heroically throughout that entire scene.

BERMAN: And there was the original suspect for whom the warrant was being served. The convict believed to be in custody of a firearm at that point.

Are there other suspects in custody now who may have been involved with the shooting itself?

JENNINGS: Well, we thought there might have been another person inside of the residence. We still are ironing through that. It could have possibly been that the individual was going from one side of the house to the other shooting at the officers on the front and the back, and also at different levels of the floor. So we were -- we're going to iron through that and make sure that we get this accurate.

But the individual that they went to serve the warrant on -- he was -- he was deceased on the scene. And as we go through the investigation we'll determine if there was anyone else that was shooting. There were two females that were also brought out of the house that were inside after we were able tot secure the residence. BERMAN: And quickly, I believe Joshua Eyer worked directly for your department. What can you tell me about him?

JENNINGS: Joshua was just a fantastic officer. I've just been on the department for six years. Just a few weeks ago, I congratulated and shook his hand for becoming Officer of the Month, and that was because of his great work in getting guns off the streets and going after the people that are preying on our citizens in Charlotte. And just one of those officers that never seemed to get tired and always wanted to do better for our community. And it's a great loss for Charlotte and a great loss for the law enforcement profession.

[07:50:09]

BERMAN: Our heart goes out to your department, to the city, and to his family.

Chief Johnny Jennings, thanks being -- thanks for being with us this morning -- appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also on our radar this morning, a former employee of the NSA will now spend the next 22 years in prison for trying to sell secrets to Russia. He was sentenced yesterday. And prosecutors say the Army veteran, Jareh Dalke, worked for the NSA briefly and was reapplying for a job there in 2022 when he shared classified information with an FBI agent posing as a Russian agent. That included what's being described as sensitive U.S. defense information that he shared. Prosecutors say Dalke told the FBI agent he was in debt and would sell all the information he had for $85,000.

The FEMA administrator is visiting Oklahoma today because of this -- one of the states hardest hit by the deadly tornadoes that tore through over the weekend. She's set to meet with local officials and also see the damage firsthand. Four people were killed, including an infant there from the storms. The National Weather Service says one of the Oklahoma tornadoes that hit Saturday was the nation's strongest in over a year.

An emergency exit slide fell off a Delta plane minutes after takeoff on Friday. That slide has now been located floating in the Atlantic. The way the airline describes it is the slide separated from the Boeing 767 as it was taking off from New York and headed to L.A. The flight crew reported feeling a vibration and then the flight turned around, returning safely to JFK. Officials now say Delta recovered the slide from a jetty in New York Sunday about 10 miles from where the plane took off -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a new study suggests the bird flu outbreak in the United States may be more widespread than originally thought. Researchers say spikes of flu virus popped up across 18 different states and may point to the spreader of bird flu currently infecting dairy cattle. This comes as the USDA says they are testing beef, including ground beef, from the grocery stores for the virus.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now. Look, when you hear they're testing ground beef at grocery stores for the virus that could spark concern among people. What does it mean, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, so far, for humans, I think people are being cautious but not overly worried at this point. Bird flu is the term and there's been some 90 million birds since January of 2022 that have been affected by this.

But John, one thing I've got to tell you is that it really seems to affect a broad array of mammals overall. Some 200 different mammals. Sea lions in Argentina -- 24,000 of them died from this H5N1 -- this highly pathogenic flu.

And there's been all these other mammals as well all over the world and certainly, in the United States. As you mentioned, cattle and these dairy cows, in particular. I think what got everyone's attention -- so, some 34 herds in nine different states have tested positive. So that's sort of the headline there.

But what is interesting is when you look at these cows, they weren't necessarily getting sick. The way that this was picked up was that dairy cows are milked twice a day and they noticed that they were making less milk, and the milk was discolored, and that triggered this sort of surveillance. So that's sort of how this started.

But one human this year has been affected and that human basically had pink eye. That was the sort of symptoms the person had. So they weren't severe symptoms. But again, in other mammals, there has been a lot of destruction as a result of this virus.

I asked Michael Osterholm about this -- you know Michael Osterholm, the epidemiologist -- specifically about the question and the concern to humans.

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MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: The virus has surely changed a lot since its first origin, and the one that we are dealing with now has become a virus that is readily killing mammals. Over 200 mammal species have now been infected. It surely has been devastating to the bird population. But, in fact, if anything, I think it has gotten farther and farther away from being a serious human virus challenge. And that's why I think I very much support the WHO and the CDC's declaration that this is still a low risk for humans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: So moving away -- he thinks, at least -- from the likelihood of causing widespread problems for humans. But we'll see John in terms of how these viruses behave.

BERMAN: In terms of the beef that we eat and the milk that we drink, what does it mean for that?

GUPTA: Well, the good news is if you look at the presence of the virus in, like, the milk, for example, it was typically dead virus. It wasn't a live virus. And then if you go through some of the procedures that I have listed

on the board there it's pretty likely to be safe. You've got to make sure your milk is pasteurized. Make sure you're not eating runny eggs. Those are usually raw or undercooked eggs. Cook meats to internal temperature that's appropriate and avoid cross-contamination.

[07:55:04]

All the basic things not just for H5N1 but for e-coli, salmonella, and wisteria as well. Those protocols stay in place.

So for right now, the food supply does not appear to be a problem.

One thing I'll tell you that they're also testing for quite a bit, John, pigs. So that's where we've really got to keep the focus. Pigs end up being heavy -- are animals that have receptors that are similar for humans and similar for birds. So the virus can get into a pig and then the pig sort of can mix those viruses and what comes out could potentially be more problematic. So we saw that with H1N1, for example, back in 2009. So that's where the epidemiologists are sort of focusing their attention next.

BERMAN: All right, Sanjay. Thank you so much. A terrific explanation. Great to see you this morning.

And just a reminder, Sanjay has a special episode of his podcast "Chasing Life" out today where he and Dr. Osterholm, who you just heard there, go even deeper into everything you need to know about the bird flu -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So this morning, as college campuses are grappling with the ongoing and growing protests over Israel's war against Hamas and Gaza, it also highlights shifting public views on President Biden's handling of the U.S. response to that war. Pressure building on Biden and more questions coming at Biden to respond further as it's become a key issue for a group of voters that President Biden's campaign continues to court and a group of voters that President Biden continues to struggle with -- young voters.

The latest CNN poll shows that more than 80 percent of Americans under the age of 35 disapprove of how the president has handled the war.

Joining us right now is CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Paul Begala. And Matt Mowers, a former Trump administration official.

Paul, let's talk about this. And also, this is another piece of it. It's not just about the -- about the war -- Israel's war against Hamas and Gaza. Young voters, when you look at this latest poll, Biden is actually 11 percentage points behind Trump among young voters 18 to 34 in the head-to-head national matchup in the CNN poll that was released just this weekend.

This is part -- in the war against -- in the war -- Israel's war against Hamas is part of his young voter problem. How -- you think it is serious but curable. Why? PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST (via Webex by Cisco): Yes. His problem with young voters is real and it is serious. It's not driven by the Israel-Gaza crisis. It's simply not.

Harvard has, for decades, done the best poll on young voters -- John Della Volpe at Harvard. And he cranked (PH) 16 issues and asked young people to say what's the most important. Israel-Gaza came in 15th, right?

His problem is the economy, it's inflation. It's stuff that I think he's done a very good job, and he can make that case. But what he's really got to do is draw the contrast -- not just brag, start bashing. Draw the contrast to Mr. Trump.

The other thing that's he got that is really driving young voters is abortion rights, right? Mr. Trump is the reason that Roe versus Wade was overturned. Young voters are squarely on Biden's side of that issue. We've seen that all over the country.

So he needs to not get wrapped around the axle of the politics of the Israel-Gaza crisis but instead, get back to the economy and abortion rights. The issues that are actually really driving the youth vote.

BOLDUAN: And here's a little bit -- I found this context that was offered by CNN's polling director, Jen Agiesta, about the context around young voters, Matt, that I think is always worth noting in these conversations and she highlights as well. She says Biden fares worse in CNN's recent polling among young voters than other recent CNN polling, but also this. Many young voters don't vote. That's part of, obviously, Get Out the Vote operations that we've seen for, what, decades now.

Biden's deficit with young voters is driven largely by those who did not vote in 2020. With that group excluded, voters between the ages of 18 and 34 -- this poll divide -- 46 percent for Biden, 47 percent for Trump overall.

Is this a group that Republicans really think they can win over to support Trump? What do you -- what do you feel about this, Matt?

MATT MOWERS, PRESIDENT, VALCOUR GLOBAL PUBLIC STRATEGY, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL (via Webex by Cisco): Well, you've got to remember that every election isn't just about the two candidates but it's also about the two candidates and the couch. And, you know, Paul will tell you because if you go back before 2008, both parties had challenges engaging young voters and actually driving turnout up. President Barack Obama obviously changed that with his compelling candidacy in 2008. There continued to be engagement in 2016 and 2020.

But what we're beginning to see in some of these numbers is actually a reversion to the norm, in some ways, where younger voters are less -- more apathetic and less engaged.

And I'll tell you, I think the biggest determination of who is going to win this election -- if it were held today, it wouldn't be Donald Trump. But the biggest determination will be who defines RFK Jr. You look at that CNN polling and he's at 16 percent. He's essentially a blank canvas. He's the only candidate with right-side-up approval ratings right now -- about 31 or so percent approval and high 20s on disapproval.

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